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TMOMAS S^LCMVI 






THE 



1/ 



WORKS OF THOMAS SACKVILLE, 
LORD BUCKHURST, 

AFTERWARDS LORD TREASURER TO QUEEN 

ELIZABETH AND EARL OF 

DORSET. 

EDITED BY THE HON. AND REV. 

REGINALD W. SACKVILLE-WEST, M.A. 







LONDON: 

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 

80HO SQUARE. 

1859. 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 
THOMAS SACKVILLE, LOED BUCKHUEST. 




vN offering to the reader of our early lite- 
rature a new and complete edition of the 
works of the Author of the first Tragedy l 
in the English language, a few hrief his- 
torical references to his life and character will not he 
without interest. 

The family of Thomas Sackville settled in England 
soon after the Conquest. They were lords of Sauque- 
ville, a small town in Normandy, ahout five miles south 
of Dieppe, and Herbrand, their chief in those days, was 

1 In speaking of this, Dodsley, in the preface to his Old 
Plays, says : — " The first dramatic piece of any consideration 
in the English language." Mention is made of some trage- 
dies written in the reign of Henry VIII. by Henry Parker, 
s^n erf Sir William Parker: and one John Hoker wrote a 
Comedy, in 1535, called Piscator. Richard Edwards, in the 
beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, wrote two come- 
dies, Pakemon and Arcite, and Damon <utd Pithicu; and though 
: is I "d:ill be considered as having done much for English 
comedy, his style is coarse, and will not bear comparison with 
that of Lord Buckhurst. 

b 



ii BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

one of the brave knights who accompanied the Norman 
Conqueror when he gained possession of the English 
throne. Though there are many names among suc- 
ceeding generations which added lustre to this house, 
we must place among the foremost that of Thomas, Lord 
Buckhurst, both as a distinguished statesman, and as a 
poet of very high merit. This double claim to our 
notice was fully admitted by his own contemporaries as 
well as by those who followed him ; among the former 
of whom we might mention his friend and successor in 
literary honours, Edmund Spenser, who, when present- 
ing to him a copy of his own imperishable work, The 
Fairy Queen, forgets not that the now active statesman 
was once the poet, — 

" Whose learned muse, hath writ her own record 
In golden verse, worthy immortal fame." l 

1 The following lines were sent to Lord Buckhurst by the 
author of The Fairy Queen, with a copy of the first edition, in 
1590 :— 

" In vaine I thinke, right honourable lord, 
By this rude rime to memorize thy name ; 
Whose learned muse hath writ her owne record 
In golden verse, worthy immortall fame : 
Thou much more fit (were leisure to the same) 
Thy gracious soveraignes praises to compile, 
And her imperial Majestie to frame 
In loftie numbers and heroick style. 
But sith thou maist not so, give leave awhile 
To baser wit, his power therein to spend, 
Whose grosse defaults thy daintie pen may file, 
And unadvised oversights amend. 



LORD BUCKHUBST. iii 

And if we must date the dawn of English poetry in the 
time of Chaucer, we may trace to Sackville the style 
and character which it afterwards assumed in Spenser 
and Shakespeare. 

But evermore vouchsafe it to maintaine 
Against vile Zoylus' backbitings vaine." 
The testimony of another contemporary, Joshua Sylvester, 
ought not to be omitted. It occurs in a dedicatory sonnet 
prefixed to one of the parts of his translation of Du Bartas, 
and is as follows : — 

To the right Honorable, the 

Earl of Dorset (late) Lord High 

Threasurer of England. 

r Sacvilus "| Comes Dorsetius -x 

Anagr. < Vas Lucisf Esto decor 3Iusis s 

V Sacris Musis celo devotus J 

The Schisme." 

Not with-out Error, and apparent wrong 
To Thee, the Muses, and my self (the most) 
Could I omit, amid this Noble Hoast b 
Of learned Friends to Learning, and our Song, 

To muster Thee : Thee, that hast lov'd so long 
The sacred Sisters, and (sad sweetly -most) 
Thy self have sung (under a fayned Ghost) 
The tragik Falls of our Ambitious Throng. 

Therefore, in honour of Thy younger Art, 
And of the Muses, honoured by the same, 
And to express my Thankfull thoughts (in part) 

This Tract / sacre unto Sackvii/S Name, 
No less renown'd/or Numbers of Thine Owne, 
Than for thy lovo to Others' Labours shew'n. 

a This is the title of the 3rd book of the 4th day of the 2nd 
week. 

b Alluding to other eminent persons to whom other books 
were inscribed. 



iv BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

Thomas Sackville was born in the year 1536. 1 at 

1 The Inquisition taken at Southwark on the death of his 
father is as follows : — Inq. c. ap. Southwark 10 Maij 9 
Eliz. . . . Rici Saekvill mil._AYenefrida 



vol. 22 M'cii 8 El. 
ob. 21 Apr. 8 El. 



superstes 



Thomas Saekvill fil et heres 
est etat 29 Ann &c. 



a dau — dria dacres 
The Eady Daere. 
Harl. MS. 757, fol. 127. 



PEDIGREE OE SIR THOMAS SACKVILEE, 

LORD BUCKHURST. 
Herbrand de Sackville. temp. William the Conqueror. 



Sir Robert == Lettice Woodville. 

i 

Jordan Ela de Dene. 



Sir Geoffrev 



Sir Jordan. 



Sir Willianr 



Sir Jordan. 



: Constance Brook. 



Maud de Normanville. 



Clara Hastings. 



.Margery Aguillon. 



Sir Andrew_Ermyntrude Malyns. 



Andrew Joan Mortimer. 



LORD BUCKHURST. v 

Buckhurst, in the parish of Withjham in Sussex, which 



Sir Andrew = Joan Burgess. 

= Margaret Dalingridge. 



• i 

Sir Thomas. 



EdwartLMargaret Wakehurst. 



Humphrey ^Catherine Browne. 



Richard—Isabel Diggs. 



Sir John = Margaret Boleyn. 



Sir Richard_Winifrid Brydges. 



Sir Thomas, Lord Buckhurst_Cecily Baker, 
and Earl of Dorset. 



Robert, 2nd Earl= Margaret Howard. Henry. William. 1 



Anne=Sir Henry Glenham. 



Thomas. 



Jane=Anthony, Viscount 
Montague. 



Mary=Sir Henry Neville. 



i This William Backville w:is knighted in France in 1589, at the ape of 
nineteen years, and lost Ins life in the wan in thai country in [692. 
There is a poem on his death among Donee's MSB, in the Bodleian, .No. 
277, supposed to be by Roase of the I unci- Temple. Bee mention of his 

brothers Henry and Thomas in Append. No. VII. 



vi BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

from the time of Henry II. had been the residence of 
his ancestors. 1 His father, Sir Eichard Sackville, 2 
held several important offices in the successive reigns of 
Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Elizabeth. 
His mother was "VVinifrede, 3 the daughter of Sir John 
Bruges, or Brydges, of London, and Lord Mayor in the 
year 1520, of another branch of which family were the 
Barons of Chandos. His grandmother Margaret was the 
daughter of Sir William Boleyn, and aunt to Anne Bo- 
ley n, the mother of Queen Elizabeth. From his childhood 
he showed signs of genius and future greatness ; and 
although we have no distinct mention of his early educa- 
tion, there is good reason to assume that care was taken 
with it. His father's conversation with Mr. Ascham, 4 

1 Jordan de Sackville, the grandson of Herbrand de Sack- 
ville, who accompanied William the Conqueror into England, 
married the Lady Ela de Dene, the heiress of Buckhurst, in 
the reign of Henry II. 

2 Mr. Ascham, who was preceptor to Queen Elizabeth, 
gives this eulogium of Sir Richard Sackville : — " That worthy 
" gentleman, that earnest favourer and furtherer of God's true 
" religion 5 that faithful servitor to his prince and country; 
" a lover of learning and all learned men ; wise in all doings ; 
" courteous to all persons, showing spite to none, doing good 
" to many ; and as I well found to me so fast a friend, as I 
" never lost the like before." — Preface to The Schoolmaster, 
p. x. 

3 After the death of Sir Richard Sackville, she married the 
Marquis of Winchester, and was buried in Westminster 
Abbey, where a monument is erected to her memory. 

4 In the year 1563, after dining with Sir W. Cecil, then 
Secretary of State, at Windsor, a conversation took place be- 



LORD BUCKHURST. vii 

respecting the bringing up of his grandson, shows us 
that it was at least not likely to have been neglected 
in the case of his own son. Towards the end of the 
reign of Edward VI, at about the age of fifteen or six- 
teen years, he was sent to Oxford, and entered at Hart 
Hall, where he resided only a short time, but acquired, 
nevertheless, the reputation of a poet. 1 " He became," 
says Milles, 2 " an excellent poet, leaving many of his 
u labours, both in Latine and English, to the world, 
" which remain as memorable praises to all posterity.'' 
To what he then wrote we must refer the words of Jasper 
Heywood, 3 his contemporary : — 



tween Sir Kichard Sackville and Mr. Ascham, of which the 
following forms a part : Sir Kichard Sackville, speaking of 
what had happened to him in his own education from havino- 
a bad schoolmaster, adds, " But seeing it is but in vain to la- 
" ment things paste, and also wisdome to look to thinges to 
" come, surely, God willinge, (if God lend me life,) I will make 
" this my mishap some occasion of good hap to little Robert 
" Sackvile, my Sonne's sonne ; for whose bringing up I would 
" gladlie, if so please you, use speciallie your good advice." 
. . » . " I wish also," adds Mr. Ascham, "with all my 
" hart, that yong Mr. Rob. Sackville may take that fruite of 
" this labor, that his worthie Graundfather purposed he should 
" have done : And if any other do take either proffite or plea- 
" sure hereby, they have cause to thanke Mr. Robert Sackville 
" for whom speciallie this my Scholemaster was provided." — 
Roger Ascham. Preface to The Scholemaster, edit. 1571. 

1 Wood, Athen. Oxon. } vol. i. 347. 

2 Catalogue of Honour, p. 412. 

3 Translation of Thyestes of Seneca, 15 GO. 



viii BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

" There Sackvylde's sonnets sweetly sauste, 
And featly fyned bee." 

But none of these, unfortunately, have come down to 
us, unless we may number among them that which is 
prefixed to Hoby's translation of the Courtier of Count 
Baldessar Castillo, printed in 1561. 1 He afterwards 
w r ent to Cambridge, and took there the degree of 
Master of Arts. Having completed his studies at the 
universities, as it was generally then considered essen- 
tial to a liberal education to acquire some knowledge 
of law, Thomas Sackville was admitted at the Inner 
Temple ; but the records of that learned society do not 

1 " These royall kinges, that reare up to the skye 
Their Palaice tops and decke them all with gold : 
With rare and curious woorkes they feed the eye : 
And showe what riches here great princes hold. 
A rarer worke, and richer far in worth, 
Castilio's hand presenteth here to the, 
No proud ne golden court doth he set forth 
But what in Court a Courtier ought to be. 
The Prince he raiseth houge and mightie walles, 
Castilio frames a wight of noble fame : 
The King with gorgeous Tyssue claddes his halles, 
The Court with golden vertue deckes the same, 
Whos passing skill lo Hobbies pen displaise 
To Brittain folk, a work of worthy praise." 
There is extant also an epitaph, ascribed by some to Sack- 
ville, which was in Bisham Church, Berkshire, on the tomb of 
Sir Philip and Sir Thomas Hoby. It is printed in Wotton's 
English Baronetage, 1741, and in Ashmole's Antiquities of Berk- 
shire. 1723. 



LORD BUCKHURST. ix 

support the assertion of Abbot 1 and Milles, 2 followed 
by Lloyd, that he was " regularly entered as a student, 
and took the degree of barrister. Having married, 
at the early age of nineteen, in the year 1555, Cicely, 
daughter of Sir John Baker, Kt., and a Privy Coun- 
sellor, of Sissinghurst in Kent, he sat two years after as 
member for the county of Westmoreland in the Parlia- 
ment of the 4 and 5 Philip and Mary, 1557-8, having 
at the same time been elected for the borough of East 
Grinstead, in Sussex ; 3 and in the first year of the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth, 1558-9, he was again elected, and 
sat for East Grinstead, at which time his name appears 
in the Journals of the House of Commons 4 as taking 
an active part in introducing several bills. 

But his literary fame began now to obtain greater 
notoriety. He had written a tragedy, for one of the 
Christmas festivals at the Inner Temple, which had not 

1 Funeral Sermon, p. 13. 

2 Catalogue of Honour, p. 412. His father, Sir Richard 
Sackville, was a Bencher, 1 and 6 Eliz. — Dugd. Baron, vol. ii. 
p. 399. 

3 " For that Thomas Sackvill, Esq. is returned one of the 
" Knights for the County of Westmorland, and also a Burgess 
" for the Borough of Estgrenestcde, in the County of Sussex, 
" and doth personally appear for Westmorland, it is required 
" by this House, that another person be returned for the said 
" Borough." — Journals of the House of Commons, 4 and 5 Philip 
and Mary. 

4 Vol. i. pp. 53, 54. (Printed 1803.) 



x BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

been printed, and, as we are informed by what is pre- 
fixed to the first authorized edition in 1570, was never 
intended for publication. By desire of the Queen, how- 
ever, it was acted at Whitehall by the gentlemen of the 
Inner Temple on the 18th of January, 1561, 1 and four 
years after was published, unknown to the author, " ex- 
" ceedingly corrupted." About this time also, between 
the years 1557 and 1563, he wrote a poetical preface 
or induction to a poem, of which he had formed the 
plan after the model of Dante ; but, from want of leisure, 
was able only to take a small share in the remaining 
part of the work, which was completed by others ; 2 and 
the year 1563, when the part written by him first 
appeared, closes his literary labours, 3 which had coni- 



1 The following probably refers to this performance : — 
u On the 18th of January, 1561, there was a play in the 
" Queen's hall at TVestmynster by the gentyll men of the 
" Tempall after a great maske, for ther was a grett skaffold 
" in the hall, with grett tryhumphe as has bene sene, and the 
u morow after the skaffold was taken doune." — 31SS. Cotton. 
Vit. F. V. 

2 Richard Baldwyne and George Ferrers undertook the 
carrying on the work. John Higgins and Richard Niccols 
were afterwards great contributors to it. 

3 We accidentally learn, from a translation of Boethius, by 
J. T. in 1609, dedicated to the " most vertuous Lady the Coun- 
" tesse of Dorset, Dowager," that Lord Buckhurst once con- 
templated a similar undertaking. In the Epistle Dedicatorie 
is as follows : — " This Booke (I say) so much esteemed by 



LORD BUCKHURST. xi 

menced with so fair a prospect and with so much ta- 
lent, destined, however, for the future to he otherwise 
employed. 1 He was again in Parliament in 1563, 
having been elected member for Aylesbury in Bucking- 
hamshire. 2 He was now also much occupied about the 
Court, which we have thus recorded in his own words in 
his will : — " I having received from Her Majesty many 



" your late most worthy Lord and Husband, as had his leisure 
" beene answerable to his learning and will, it had been eno- 
" bled by a more noble Translation." 

1 " The writers of the succeeding age," says Mr. Pope, 
" might have improved as much in other respects by copying 
" from him a propriety in sentiments, a dignity in the sen- 
" tences, an unaffected perspicuity of style, and an easy flow 
" of numbers ; in a word, that chastity, correctness, and gra- 
" vity of style which are so essential to tragedy ; and which 
" all the tragic poets who followed, not excepting Shakespeare 
" himself, either little understood or perpetually neglected." — 
See Spence's Preface to Gorboduc, 1736. 

" Our historic plays are allowed to have been founded on 
" the heroic narratives in the Mirror for Magistrates; to that 
" plan, and to the boldness of Lord Buckhurst's new scenes, 
M perhaps we owe Shakespeare." — Lord Orford's Works, vol. 
i. p. 333, edit. 1798. See also Warton's Observations on 
Spenser, vol. ii. p. 109. 

2 The ancestors of Lord Buckhurst were early connected 
with Buckinghamshire. Sir William Sackville, in the time 
of Henry I, held one knight's fee at Fawley, in that county ; 
and Sir Bartholomew Sackville, in the time of Edward II, 
died seised of the manor of Eawley. Sir Thomas Sackville 
represented the county in several parliaments in the reign of 
Richard II. 



xii BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

" special graces and favours, as first in my younger 
" years being by her particular choice and liking se- 
" lccted to a continual private attendance upon her own 
" person." This special preference may partly be attri- 
buted to his relationship to the Queen, as well as to the 
marks of talent and fitness for oifices of trust, which 
were probably noticed in him at an early age. 

At this period of his life an incident occurred which 
has not received much explanation. Travelling in 
France and Italy, and being at Rome, he was detained 
there a prisoner fourteen days, but whether on account of 
pecuniary difficulties, or for other reasons, is not clear. 
Dr. Abbot says : — " Which trouble was brought upon 
" him by some who hated him for his love to religion 
" and his duty to his sovereign." l This remark, how- 
ever, does not appear to be supported by any proof, 
although we may fairly conclude that religious differ- 
ences at this time prevented there being much cordiality 
between the Court of Queen Elizabeth and the Court 
of Rome. That his imprisonment was owing to pecu- 
niary embarrassments is quite as probable. Being of 
a generous disposition, and, as Sir Robert Xaunton 2 
observes, " of that height of spirit inherent in his house," 
he was in his youth too magnificent for hi- means, 
which, in the lifetime of his father, were of necessity 

1 Funeral Sennon, p. 14. ' Fragmenta Regalia. 



LORD BUCKHURST. xiii 

limited. Upon his father's death, which took place 
while he was at Rome, on the 21st of April, 1566, he 
immediately returned to England. 

It was now evident that Thomas Sackville would 
follow in the steps of his ancestors, and be a leading 
man in the affairs of state. On the 8th of June, 1567, 1 
he was knighted 2 by the Duke of Norfolk in her Ma- 

1 In this year Sir Thomas Sackville resigned the office of 
Grand Master of the Freemasons. The following anecdote is 
told in connection with his holding this appointment : — " From 
" this time (1553) they continued without any patron till the 
" reign of Elizabeth, when Sir Thomas Sackville accepted the 
" office of Grand Master. Lodges, however, had been held 
" during this period in different parts of England ; but the 
" general or grand lodge assembled in the city of York, where 
" it is said the fraternity were numerous and respectable. Of 
" the Queen we have the following curious anecdote with re- 
" gard to the Masons : Hearing that they were in possession 
" of many secrets which they refused to disclose, and being 
" naturally jealous of all secret assemblies, she sent an armed 
" force to York to break up their annual grand lodge. The 
" design was prevented by the interposition of Sir Thomas 
" Sackville, who took care to initiate some of the chief officers 
" whom she had sent on this duty in the secrets of Masonry. 
" These joined in communication with their new brethren, 
" and^nade so favourable a report to the Queen on their re- 
" turn, that she countermanded her orders, and never after- 
" wards attempted to disturb the meeting of the fraternity. 
" In 1567 Sir Thomas Sackville resigned the office of Grand 
" Master in favour of Francis Russel, Earl of Bedford, and 
" Sir Thomas Gresham, an eminent merchant." — Sec Ency* 
clop. Briton, vol. x. 5 also Preston's Illustrations of Masonry, 

2 M. 6, College of Anns. 



xiv BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

jesty's presence, and the same day raised to the degree 
and dignity of a Baron of the realm by the title of 
Lord Buckhnrst, Baron of Buckhnrst in the county of 
Sussex. 1 From this period to the day of his death he 
was almost wholly occupied with public affairs. 

His housekeeping appears to have commenced in the 
Queen's palace at Shcne, in Surrey, where he had 
apartments, for which he paid the yearly rent of forty 
marks, his mother, as he states, having " the order and 
" keeping of the house." But in the year 1568, 
when, by her Majesty's command, he had to entertain a 
Cardinal, 2 his establishment had not reached its after 
magnificence ; and the simplicity of his mode of life 
seems not to have well suited the more luxurious habits of 
his guests. He regrets, in a letter of explanation to the 
Lords of the Privy Council, 3 that the Queen on this ac- 
count " stood highly displeased" with him, " especially," 
he says, " being to Her Majesty as I am." This same 



1 Pat. 9 Eliz. p. 10. 

2 This was Odet de Coligni, Cardinal de Chatillon, brother 
of the Admiral Coligni. Having become a Protestant, he 
took refuge in England after the battle of St. Denis, in 1567, 
where he was well received by Queen Elizabeth. He returned 
to France after quiet had been restored in 1570, but died the 
year following of poison given him by one of his servants. 
There is a good full-length picture of him and his two brothers, 
Francis and Gaspard , at Knole, by Jansen. 

3 See Append. No. II. 



LORD BUCKHURST. xr 

document supplies us with very curious information, as 
showing how few and simple were the absolute require- 
ments of domestic life in those days, when Thomas 
Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, had no linen which for the 
Cardinal's use u cold satisfie their turne," such glass 
only " which they thought to base/' and a table at 
which he himself dined, which they refused, u for that 
" yt was but a square table." 

The first important employment which Lord Buck- 
hurst had was in the year 1571, when he was sent on 
a special mission to Charles IX, King of France, to * 
congratulate him on his marriage with Elizabeth of 
Austria, the daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, and 
also to negotiate the matter of the proposed alliance 
of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou, brother of 
the French king. 1 He speaks of this as one of " two 

1 Holinshed, in his Chronicle, gives the following account of 
this embassage : — " Moreover this year about Candelmas, Sir 
" Thomas Sackville, Baron of Buckhurst, was sent in Ambas- 
" sage from the Queen's Majesty to Charles the Ninth, the 
" French King, a swell to congratulate for his marriage with the 
" daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, as for other weightie 
" affaires. And as his Ambassage was great, so was his 
" charge no lesse in furnishing himself and traine accord- 
" inglie, being both in number and furniture such in everie 
" point as did apperteine ; and his receiving and interteine- 
" ment in France by the King and others was agreeable there- 
" to 5 for he was received upon the coast by the Governours 
" of the fortified towns right honourablie by order from the 



xvi BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

" several times" that the Queen conferred upon him the 
honour of being 4; her amhassadour special about mat- 
" ters of great trust and importance." Stow, in his 

" King. Among other the baron of Bournoisell was one, who 
" being verie well mounted and appointed, left not his Lord- 
" ship before he came to the Court, and from thence accom- 
" panied him backe until his Imbarkement homewards. 

" In the Maine Countries he was accompanied with theGo- 
" vernours and Nobles of the places about : and in the good 
" townes where he passed he was presented by the chiefe Ma- 
" gistrates, wherein their good wils were to be thankefullie 
" accepted, though his Lordship's rewards far overvalued their 
tf presents. At his approach neere to Paris he was incountred 
" on the waie, for courtesie sake, by two Marquesses of Trans 
" and Saluces, this being of the House of Savoie,and the other 
" of the worth ie familie of Foir. These wanted not such as 
" accompanied them, and the same even of the best sort. At 
" the lord Ambassador's first audience, which was at the cas- 
" tell of Madril otherwise called Bullogne neere Paris (where 
" the King then laie), the Queenes Almain Coches, verie 
" bravelie furnished, were sent to Paris for him, in one of 
" which his Lordship with the Marquesse of Trans rode to- 
m wards the Court, verie narrowlie escaping from a shrewd 
" turn and great mischance, by reason the same Coch was 
" overthrown by the Dutch wagoners, their negligence, who 
" in a braveerie gallopping the field, made an over short turne 
" wherewith the Marques was sore brused. 

" The lord Ambassadour, at his arrival] at the place, was 
" right honourablie received; he was banketted by diverse, 
u and that verie sumptuouslie ; which by him was not left un- 
" requited to the uttermost and rather with the better, for his 
" liberalise unto the French was verie large, but his reward at 
" the King's hands was onelie a chain waienga thousand French 

" crownes After that the Lord Buckhurst had been 

" feasted and banketted by the King, and other of the French 



LORD BUCKHURST. xvii 

Annals, 1 remarks upon the liberality of the English 
ambassadour on this occasion towards the French : — 
" The chief magistrates/' he says, " making him pre- 
" sents, his Lordship was so generous as to return more 
" than the value of them." 

It is difficult now to realize fully the difference in the 
habits and manners of the time of which we are writing; 
and more difficult is it to define correctly the relative 
position of monarch and subject, so as to form a just 
estimate of what was then a legitimate exercise of the 
regal power. But however much allowance an impar- 
tial observer or historian may make in reviewing events, 
which must be expected to bear strongly impressed upon 
them the character of the age to which they belong, it 
is impossible to justify all those acts of the Koyal Prero- 
gative which, especially at this period, under the form 
of State Trials, so often resulted in capital punishment. 
Lord Buckhurst, as we might suppose from his rank 
and position, was called upon to take part in these pro- 
ceedings. In the year 1572 he was one of the Peers 
that sat on the trial of Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of 
Norfolk, who, being attainted of high treason for his 

" nobilitie, and had accomplished the points of his Ambas* 
" sage, he took Leave of the King, and departed homewards, 
" arriving here in England a little before Easter." — Vol. iv. 
p. 258, edit. 1808. 
1 T. 668, edit. 1614. 



iviii BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

communication with Mary Queen of Scots, shared the 
fate of his distinguished father, Henry Howard, Earl of 
Surrey. The families of Sackville and Howard were 
afterwards united Ly the marriage of the Lady Marga- 
ret, 1 only daughter of this Duke, and Robert, Lord 
Buckhurst's eldest son, who, on the death of his father, 
became second Earl of Dorset. 

"VVe come now, in the year 1586, to an event which 
throws one of the gloomiest shadows over the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth. The unfortunate Mary Queen of 
Scots is made a prisoner, a commission is appointed for 
her trial, and her life is sacrificed. Lord Buckhurst 
was one of the forty who were chosen to bring to an 
issue this dark transaction ; but his name is not found 
among those who assembled at Fotheringay Castle, and 
afterwards in the Star Chamber at Westminster, when 
the Queen was condemned. He was, however, selected 
to convey to her the sentence of death c confirmed by 
the English Parliament ; which difficult and painful duty 
he discharged in a manner that merited the notice of 
the unhappy Queen, who, as a mark of her approbation, 
as it is supposed, gave him a piece of the furniture of 
her private chapel, the Procession to Calvary, carved in 
wood, which is still preserved among the family relics 
at Knole, in Kent. In the following year, 15b 7, he 

1 See Southwell's Poems : one of which was composed on the 
death of this Lady Margaret. London, J. K. Smith. 1856. 
* Camden's JJlizabtth, p. oG3. 



LORD BUCKHURST. xix 

was sent on a special embassy to the Low Countries, to 
negotiate the matters there in dispute, in which the con- 
duct of the Earl of Leicester, who held the appointment 
of Governor and Commander of the Forces, was called 
in question. 1 Acting with his accustomed integrity, he 
could not wholly take the part of the English general, 
by which means lie fell into the displeasure of the Queen, 
over whom the influence of Leicester was at that time 
great. A somewhat unusual, though not altogether then 
unknown mode of punishment, was resorted to. The 
Lord Buckhurst was confined to his house for nine or 
ten months by a royal mandate to that effect ; during 
which time, in order strictly to obey her Majesty's in- 
junction, he would neither see his wife or children ; " a 
" rare example," says Dr. Abbot, 2 " of obedience and 
" observance unto his sovereign." L^pon the death, 
however, of the Earl of Leicester, which happened 
shortly after, he was restored to the Queen's favour, 
and his conduct, which had been undeservedly censured, 
appeared in its true light. As a proof also of the high 
esteem in which he was now held, on the 24th of April 
following, 1588, he was elected at Whitehall one of the 
Knights Companions of the most noble Order of the 
Garter, 3 without having any previous knowledge of i;, 

1 Many of the letters of Lord Buckhurst relating to this 
matter may be found in the Cabala sive Scrinia Sacra, 1091. 

2 Funeral Sermon, p. 15. lf>()8. 

2 Ashmole's Order of the Carter,]). 301. 



xx BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

and was installed at Windsor the 18th December, 1589. 1 
An honour of another kind now awaited him. In the 
year 1591, on the 17th of December, he was chosen 
Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and on the 6th 
of January next was incorporated Master of Arts at his 
lodgings in London, not having yet taken that degree 
in this university. His opponent was the Earl of Essex, 
who had been put forward by the Puritans. For Lord 
Buckhurst, though favourable to the Eeformation, which 
was sedulously promoted in this reign, had no sympa- 
thy with a party whose principles were alike dangerous 
to the Church and monarchy. The Queen's letter in 
his favour determined the election. 2 In the following 

o 

year her Majesty visited Oxford, and was magnificently 
entertained by the new Chancellor. 

As Lord Buckhurst had now for many years been 

1 In St. George's Chapel at Windsor, among the names of 
the Knights is as follows :— " Du tres noble et puissant Seigneur, 
" Thomas Sakeville, comte de Dorset, baron Buckhurst, grand tre- 
" sorier oV Angleterre, chlr du tres noble Ordre de la Jartiere, en~ 
" stalle a Windesor 18 jour de Decembre 1589." 

2 1591. Cane, idem Ilattomis, quo diem xx Novembris 
obeunte, solicitos admodum Togatos habuit successoris electio. 
Alii maxime vero Catharomm ad schisma propendentes Ro- 
bertum De Evereux, Essexise comitem neque parum jam apud 
Reginam valentem ; alii autem Thomam Sackvile Baronem 
de Buckhurst prceoptabant. Pereeptis tandem ab Elizabetha 
Buckhurstii in gratiam Uteris, eundern xvii Decemb. coopta- 
vimus, ad quern etiam codicillum, electum significantem, post 
paulotransmisimus.— Hist, et Antiq. Univ. Oxon. 1674. 



LORD BUCKHVRST. xxi 

actively engaged in public affairs, and employed fre- 
quently in offices of great trust and responsibility, we are 
not surprised to find that, on the death of Lord Burgh - 
ley, he was selected by the Queen to be the successor of 
that eminent statesman, and made High Treasurer of 
England on the 15th of May, 1599. But his well known 
abilities and character did not prevent his appointment, 
as he himself says, from meeting with " a most earnest 
" opposition of some great persons, who then very 
" mightily withstood the same." It is probable that the 
Earl of Essex was one of these, as he courted the favour 
of the Puritan party, who dreaded so great an obstacle 
as Lord Buckhurst in the way of their designs. And 
they were not mistaken. For to the watchfulness of the 
Lord Treasurer, not long after, must in a great measure 
be attributed the discovery of what resulted at last in 
open acts of rebellion, when the Earl of Essex and other 
leaders of his party were made prisoners. On the 19th 
of February, 1600, Robert, Earl of Essex, and Henry, 
Earl of Southampton, appeared before the Lords at 
Westminster, charged with high treason. A spacious 
court was made in Westminster Hall, where the Lord 
Treasurer Buckhurst sat as High Steward of England, 
under a canopy of state. When the trial was ended and 
the prisoners found guilty, being called upon to pro- 
nounee the sentence, which he did, says Lord Bacon, 
u with gravity and solemnity," he exhorted the' Earl of 



xxii BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

Essex to implore the Queen's incrcy j 1 and it was with 
great reluctance that the royal warrant for the execu- 
tion was afterwards signed. 

Upon the death of the Queen, on the 24th of March, 
1603, Lord Buckhurst was one of those upon whom 
devolved the administration of the aifairs of the king- 
dom, and the proclaiming King James of Scotland the 
successor to the throne of England. 2 After attending 
the royal funeral solemnities in Westminster Ahbey on 
the 28th of April, he met the King, on the 2nd of May, 
at Broxbournc, in Hertfordshire ; and being very gra- 
ciously received by him, was confirmed in the office 



1 " L. Steward. My Lord of Essex, the Queen's Majesty 
" hath bestowed many favours on your predecessors and your- 
" self 5 I would wish, therefore, that you likewise would sub- 
" mit yourself to Her Majesty's mercy, acknowledging your 
" offences and reconciling yourself inwardly to Her Majesty, 
" by laying open all matters that were intended to prejudice 
" Her Majesty, and the actors thereof; and thereby no doubt 
" you shall find Her Majesty merciful. 1 ' — State Trials, vol. i. 
p. 207. 

2 Rymer, v. 16, p. 490. The signature of Lord Buckhurst, 
of which the facsimile is here given, is attached, among others, 
to an order dated 24th March, 1602 (1603), the original of 
which is among the Cecil Papers at Hatfield, addressed to the 
Lieutenant of the Tower for the proclaiming King James on 
Tower Hill, as had been done at Whitehall and Cheapside. 



JE 



r ~£n3iu4]f 



LORD BUCKHURST. ixiii 

of Lord Treasurer, 1 the patent 2 of which had been pre- 
viously renewed for life by the king on the 17th of 
April, before his arrival in England. On the 13th of 
March following, 1604, he was created Earl of Dorset. 
Though now declining in years, he was not less devoted 
to the public duties of his office, while he availed himself 
of all occasions, 3 even when attended with much exertion, 
of showing publicly every mark of loyalty and dutiful re- 
spect towards his sovereign, so as indeed to reserve but 
little time for leisure and private business. In a letter 4 
to the Earl of Salisbury, dated 4th September, 1605, 
he says, " I go now to Horseley (which was his coun- 
try-house in Surrey, about twenty miles from London), 
" thence to Knole, 5 where I was not but ons in the first 

1 A warrant for increasing the duty on tobacco, signed by the 
Lord Treasurer in the 2 Jac. I. recites, " That tobacco being 
" a drug brought into England of late years in small quantities 
" was used and taken by the better sort only as Physick to 
" preserve health ; but through evil custom and the toleration 
" thereof that riotous and disorderly persons spent most of 
" their time in that idle vanity," kc—llymer, p. 601. 

2 Pat. 1, Jac. I. p. 14. 

3 See Append. No. VIII. 4 See Append. No. IX. 

5 A grant of the magnificent mansion of Knole, in Kent, 
was made by Queen Elizabeth to LordBuckhurst in the early 
part of her reign, in order, as is the tradition in the family, 
that she might have him near her court and councils ; but in 
consequence of a previous lease, which had not expired, he did 
not come into actual possession of it till 1603 ; which explains 
what he is reported to have said in the year 1600 concerning 
Otford House in Kent, " that he sought to have sonic parke 
" or other neare London, but cold not compas it; that all his 



xxiv BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

" beginning all the yere, whens for 3 or 4 daies to 
" Buckhurst, where I was not these 7 veres." His hos- 
pitality, however, at his different houses, was much in 
renown. " He kept house," says Dr. Abbot, 1 " for forty 
a and two years in an honourable proportion. For thirty 
" years of those his family consisted of little less, in one 
" place or another, than two hundred persons. But for 
" more than twenty years, besides workmen and other 
" hired, his number at the least hath been two hundred 
" and twenty daily, as appeared upon check-role. A 
" very rare example in this present age of ours, when 
" housekeeping is so decayed." In the beginning of 
the month of June, 1607, he was dangerously ill at 
Horseley House, 2 where, he says, " I lay in such ex- 

" own Parkes and Landes were 28 Mile of fowle way, and 
" that he had no place near London to retire unto, and there- 
" fore should be glad of it, if Sir Robert Sidney wold part with 
" it."— Sidney Papers, vol. ii. p. 183. 

1 Funeral Sermon, p. 16. 

2 [In the following extract from a private letter mention is 
made of the king's displeasure at this time, but I am not aware 
of any notice of it elsewhere. — Ed.] " The Lo : Treasurer is 
" comme to his howse heere agayne,who had bin in thecoun- 
Ci trie for a tyme very discontented, I thinke partely w th some 
" message the Kinge sent him aft r he had refused to paie money 
M to y e Lo. Hey, w ch hisMa lic had given him, & partely also 
w because the great sute for S r Richard Levison's lands is 
" passed agaynst S r George Curzon our countraieman, whose 
" daughter and Inure the Lo. Buckhurst's sonne hath mar- 
u ried. HisMa tic afi r some displeasinge messages senty* Lo. 
" Treasorer a dyamond, & wished he might live so long as 
" that ringe would continue 5 w ch they say revived my Lo. 



LORD BUOKHURST. xxv 

" tremitye of sickness, as yt was a common and con- 
" stant reporte all over London that I was dead." He 
recovered, however, sufficiently to be able to resume his 
duties, and, if we may judge from a letter 1 which he 
afterwards wrote, with faculties unimpaired. His will 2 
also, which is most elaborately composed, and of great 
length, is dated the following August ; and a very long 
codicil was written, as it commences by stating, with 
his own hand. He died the next year, ] 608, on the 
19th of April, while sitting at the Council Table in 
Whitehall, being in his seventy-second year. The so- 
lemnities of his funeral were performed in Westminster 
Abbey, and the sermon 3 was preached by his Chaplain, 
Dr. Abbot, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. His 
body was removed to Withyham in Sussex, the parish 
in which Buckhurst is, where he lies, according to his 
desire, among his ancestors, beneath the Sackville 
Chapel, which adjoins the parish church. 4 A monu- 
ment 5 erected to his memory and that of his wife was 

" Trh'er agayne." — From a Letter of William Knyveton to 
the Countess Dowager of Shrewsbury, dated 22nd June, 1G07, 
which is found in Hunter's Hallanuhire, p. 9G. 

1 See Append. No. X. 2 See Append. No. XL 

3 Sermon preached at Westminster May 2G, 1G08. London, 
1608. 

4 See Historical Notices of Withyham and the Sachvilk Chapel) 
London, J. K. Smith, 1857. 

5 On it was inscribed : — 

" IlLUSTRISSIMUS Thomas SaCKVILB 
Milks Baku BcCKHUfeSX COHBB 



xxvi MEMOIR OF LORD BUCKHURST. 

destroyed by fire in the year 1 663 ; but on the leaden 
coffin, in raised letters, may still be read : — 

" Here lieth y e Body of Thomas Sacv Baron 
" of buckhur earle of dorset knight of the 
" Garter Chancellor of Ox Lord High Treas r 
" of Engl a a Prive Counselor to Que Elisa an 

" AFTERWARDS TO KlNG JaMES WHO DIED YE 18 

" April 1608." 

I might conclude this brief Memoir with the testi- 
mony of others to the character and genius of him who 
is the subject of it, and thus show, as Lord Orford re- 
marks, that " few ministers have left behind them so 
" unblemished a character ;" but since the actions and 
words of a great man are the best biographical comment 
that can be offered, although it may be found that I 
have but faintly and imperfectly traced and set forth 
the former, with confidence as to the result I now place 
the latter in the hands of the reader. 

E. W. S-W. 



Dorset Sum us Axglije Tiiesau 
Rarius Elizabetiia et Jacobo 
Regnaxtibus a Sacris Consiliis 
Orbtnis Periscelidis Eques Auratus 
Et Academle Oxoniexsis Caxcella 
Rius OB xix Abrilis Ao. M.DC.VI1I.'' 



APPENDIX. 

[The following Letters are copied from originals in 
the handwriting of Lord Buckhurst, with the exception 
of No. I, which is taken from Collins's Sidney Papers, 
and No. X, which is from a Copy in the State Paper 
Office. " His secretaries," says Naunton, " did little for 
" him by the way of inditement, wherein they could sel- 
" dom- please him, he was so facete and choice in his 
u phrase and style."] 



No. I. 

Thomas, Lord Buckhurst, to Bohert Dudley, Earl of 
Leicester, on the death of Sir Philip Sydney. 

My very good Lord, 

"ITH <rreat srricf do I write these lines unto 
you, being thereby forced to renew to 
your remembrance the decease of that 
noble gentleman your nephew, by whose 
death not only your Lordship and all other his friends 
and kinsfolks, but even her Majesty and the whole realm 
besides, do suffer no small loss and detriment. Neverthe- 




xxviii APPENDIX. 

less it may not bring the least comfort unto you; that as 
he hath both lived and died in fame of honour and repu- 
tation to his name, in the worthy service of his Prince 
and Country, and with as great love in his life, and with 
as many tears for his death, as ever any had ; so hath he 
also by his good and godly end, so greatly testified the 
assurance of God's infinite mercy towards him, as there 
is no doubt but that he now liveth with immortality, free 
from the cares and calamities of mortal misery; and in 
place thereof, remaineth filled with all heavenly joys and 
felicities, such as cannot be expressed : so as I doubt not, 
but your Lordship in wisdom, after you have yielded 
some while to the imperfection of man's nature, will yet 
in time remember how happy in truth he is, and how 
miserable and blind we are, that lament his blessed change. 
Her Majesty seemeth resolute to call home your Lord- 
ship, and intendeth presently to think of some fit person- 
age, that may take your place and charge. And in my 
opinion her Majesty had never more cause to wish you 
here than now ; I pray God send it speedily. I shall not 
need to enlarge my letter with any other matters, for 
that this messenger, your Lordship's wholly devoted, can 
sufficiently inform you of all. And so wishing all com- 
fort and contentation unto your Lordship, I rest your 
Lordship's wholly for ever, to use and command as your 
own. From the Court, this 3 rd of November, 1586. 

Your Lordship's 

Most assured to command, 

T. BUCKEHURST. 



APPENDIX. xxix 



No. II. 

My dutie to your Lordships most humblie remembred. 
Returning yesterday to Shene, I receved as from your 
L., how her highnes stode gretelie displesed w* me, for 
that I had not in better sorte entertained the Cardi- 
nall who having bene w* so grete honor receved, not 
onlie by thos in whos houses he had rested before, but 
also even by the Quenes Majestie herself, her H. did the 
rather take it in verie ill parte towardes me, especiallie 
being to her M. as I am. And farther that her H. pie- 
sure was I shold deliver unto his L. the kaies of all the 
gates and doores, and the whole hous to be at his comand- 
mente. Toching the furste parte of this message, w th how 
grete grief I receved the same, god and my sorofull harte 
can beste witnes. So injuste reportes of me to her M. 
trobled me very muche, her H. displesure a grete dele 
more, but doubting how to remove the same, that greved 
me most of all. For whatsoever my deserte have bene, 
I know not how I may presume to clere me self yf her 
M. have already condemned me, and yet thinking it both 
a grete faulte and a folie to betraie mine ynocencie w th 
silence, I have resolved to laie before your L. plainlie 
and simplie as it past, the whole discourse of my deling 
towards the cardinall, w* this protestacon beside, that yf 
anie parte therof be found untrue, I wishe to me self the 
losse of her M. favor, and consequentlie of my lief w'all. 
And therfore when your L. shall have considred therof, 
if to the same it may apere, that I have no waies deserved 



xxx APPENDIX. 

this displesure, I shall then most humblie beseche your 
L. that ye will vouchsafe on my behalf, w l most lowlie 
peticon to her M. to restore me again to her M. most 
gracious favor. Yt may plese your good L. therfore Un- 
derstand that having receved your L. letters that I shold 
repaire to Shene, and there to do the beste I cold in 
accomodating the Cardinall w l mine advise aid and as- 
sistans towards her M. officers who then were at Shene for 
that purpose, (the same your letters containing no other 
effecte at all) I toke hors w l in one hower after, I being 
then xxx mile of from Shene, and so rode all the night, 
and upon my coming thether, being but 2 daies before 
the Cardinals arivall, I spake w* her M. officers, w l whome 
I had conferens for the better accomodating of the Car- 
dinall. I brought them in to everie parte of the hous 
that I possessed, and showed them all such stuf and fur- 
niture as I had. And where they required plate of me, 
I told them as troth is, that I had no plate at all. Suche 
glasse vessell as I had I offred them, which they thought 
to base; for naperie I cold not satisfie their turne, for 
they desired damaske worke for a long table, and I had 
non other but plain linnen for a square table. The table 
whereon I dine me self I offred them, and for that yt was 
but a square table they refused yt. One onlie tester and 
bedsted not ocupied I had, and thos I delivered for the 
Cardinall him self, and when we cold not by any menes 
in so shorte a time procure another bedsted for the bushop, 
I assighned them the bedsted on w my wiefes waiting 
wemen did lie, and laid them on the ground. Mine own 
basen and ewer I lent to the Cardinall and wanted me 



APPENDIX. xxxi 

self. So did I the candelsticks for mine owne table, w l 
divers drinking glasses, small cushions small pottes for 
the ketchin, and sundrie other such like trifles, although 
indede I had no greter store of them then I presentlie 
ocupied ; and albeit this be not worthie the writing, yet 
mistrusting lest the misorder of some others in denieng 
of such like kind of stuf not ocupied by themselves, hath 
bene percase informed as towards me, I have thought 
good not to omit yt. Long tables formes, brasse for the 
ketchin, and all such necessaries as cold not be furnished 
by me, we toke order to provide in the towne ; hanginges 
and beds we receved from the yeman of the wardrop at 
Richemond, and when we saw that naperie and shetes 
cold no where here be had, I sent word therof to the 
officers at the Courte, by w ch menes we receved from my 
lord of Leceter 2 pair of fine shetes for the Cardinall, and 
from my lord Chamberlen, one pair of line for the bushop, 
w l 2 other courser pair, and order beside for x pair more 
from London. At w ch time also becaus I wold be sure 
your L. shold be asserteinedof the simplenes and searsy- 
tie of such stuf as I had here, I sente a man of mine to 
the Courte, speciallie to declare to your L. that for plate, 
damaske naperie and fine shetes, I had none at all and 
for the reste of my stuf neither was it such as w 1 honor 
mighte furnishe such a personage, nor yet had I any greter 
store therof then I presentlie ocupied, and he brought 
me this answer again from your L. that if I had it not I 
cold not lend it. And yet all things being thus provided 
for, and the diet for his L. being also prepared, I sente 
word therof to Mr. Kingesmele and therupon the next 



xxxii APPENDIX. 

daie in the morning about ix of the clocke the Cardinall 
came to Shene where I met and receved him almost a 
quarter of a mile from the hous, and when I had furste 
brought the Cardinall to his lodginge, and after the 
bushop to his, I thought good there to leve them to their 
repose. Thus having accomodated his L. as well as might 
be w l so shorte a warning, I thought me self to have fullie 
performed the mening of your L. letters unto me ; and 
becaus I had tidinges the daie before that a hous of mine 
in the countri by sodein chaunce of fire was burned, and 
also that my lord Sainte John had sente of his servantes 
into Sussex to kepe Courtes upon certein lands of mine 
claimed by his L. and being to the value of CC markes 
yerlie, and so to get from me the possession of them, I 
toke horse about v a clock in the after none, and rode 
the same night towarde thos places, where I founde so 
much of my hous burned as CC markes will not repaire; 
and I found also that my lord Seniohns men were even 
then about the bringing of their purpos to passe, in both 
w ch matters after order taken, I returned to Shene ime- 
diatly. Nowe concerning the laste parte of your L. mes- 
sage, to wete that I shold deliver to the Cardinall the 
kaies of all the gates and doores, and to leve the whole 
hous to his plesure, yt may like your L. to understand 
that the occacon of mine abode here hath bene by my 
mothers sutfrance, who under her M. hath onlie had the 
order and keping of the hous, the fourth parte of w ch hath 
not bene possest by me, but onlie such romes as of neces* 
sytie I was to crave the use of, and yet I paie the rent 
of xl markes yerlie to her M., and have bestowed alredy 



APPENDIX. xxxiii 

sins my coming above xl h in repairing thos roomes that 
were delivred unto me. The reste of the hous hath wholie 
remained in the custodie of my mother, and of my lord 
Dacres, who also by her permission had an other portion 
of the hous assined to him, but when her M. officers came 
furst hether, the kaies of all the whole hous were sent 
unto them both by my lord Seniohn and my lorde Dacres, 
and they toke their chois for the Cardinall aswell of them 
as of all such romes as I enjoied, of w ch thei had the most 
parte to the Cardinal use, and assined me others in other 
places. But receving now from your L. her H. plesure, 
I will send present word therof to my lord Senjohn ; and 
I me self also, although that poore household stuf I have 
for London, be for the most parte brought hether, and 
my whole provison of wine, fishe, wood, and cole laied in 
here alredie, yet w th as much spede as may be possible, 
the same shalbe removed, and I w 1 my wief and familie 
will w4n few daies departe to London. Thus most hum- 
blie beseching your L. to make reporte to her M., accord- 
ing to this my declaracon, and that by your good L. 
humble sute yt may plese her M. the rather to judge of 
me as I have deserved in this matter, I most humblie 
take my leve. From Shene this xxx th of September 
1568. 

Your Lordshippes most humble 
to commaunde, 

T. BUCKEHURST. 

To the right honorable the Lordes of her Ma tlcs Frevic 
Councell be thes deliverede. 
d 



xxxiv APPENDIX. 



No. III. 



I have by the space of this month and more forborne 
to take phisik by reson of her Ma ties busines, and now 
having this only weke left for physik I am resolved to 
prevent siknes feling me self altogether distempred and 
filled w* humors, so as if her M. shold mis me I besech 
you in respect hereof to excuse me. 

At my last waiting upon her Ma tie I moved her M. for 
sining the bill for the deanery of Christ Church to Doc- 
tor Ravesse wherein if Her Ma tie shold not satisfie my 
humble sute being doon I protest to God for the good of 
the universitie and in discharge of my consciens and duty 
to the same, being Chauncelour therof, I wold humbly 
desire to give up the place, gaininge nothing therby but 
envie and infinite troble, and now to purchas also so grete 
a disgrace as not to be able so much to prevaile w l Her 
Ma. as to nominate a worthy man for that hous of Christ- 
church being indede the gretest College of all the Uni- 
sitie, and most proper for me to recomend a sufficient 
man to her M. for the same being Chauncelour, but that 
others who have first prevailed against me in the prefer- 
ment of D r James shold now also overthrow my nomi- 
nacon of D. Ravesse, were to make the whole Universi- 
tie to think that I can do nothing w l her Ma ,ie and that 
others can do all. I may be bold to say to her M. that 
if ever a worthy man were reccomended to her M. this 
is he, for whom an Archbishop 3 Bishops 6 Deanes, 22 
doctors and 3 other grave and lerned men have testified, 



APPENDIX. xxxv 

that of there own knowleges he is a right honest man, 
very well lerned discrete sober, and wise, imploied often 
in good places, and generally reputed to be of grete in- 
tegrity and good resolucon, fit for Government, Thes be 
the true wordes of their letter on his behalf. The names of 
all thes I have annext to the bill, and I did show them 
to her M tie this other day, and she red them all. I told 
her M. that I wold leave the bill w* you to procure the 
sining therof, so as I make no dout but that she will at 
the first do it, and this long letter duly written only to in- 
form you of the state of the caus, if happley her M. shold 
make any scruple. 

29 May 1596 Your very lo. and assured frend, 

T. BUCKEHURST. 

In this College there are about 200 persons, who now 
remaine w*out a hed and Governor, and mainy thinges of 
necessity to be doon by the Deane and not w'out him, 
therfore her Ma. may not protract it w*out much incon- 
veniens. 

To the right honorable my very good frend Sir Robert 
Cecill Knight of her Maj ties honorable privy CounselL 

No. IV. 

Sir, 

I dout not that you have dealivcrd to her Ma tie the 
humble and faithful desier of my hart to do her Ma* - 
any servis that is w u 'in my power to performe, and that 
no travailes paines nor expences shold or can withdraw 



xxxvi APPENDIX. 

me from undertaking the same, whereof if my former 
services abrode, the on in Frauns, the other in the low 
Countries, and all my dutifull desiers to do her highnes 
some acceptable services here at home, do not make suf- 
ficient testimonie for me and clere all doutes thereof in 
her Ma ties roiall hart towardes me, I have litle hope that 
any other servis future may obtain it, for my present 
state of body I protest before the Almighty God it is so 
far from health, as being alwaies subiect to rumes and 
coldes in the winter, and thereby forced to defend me- 
self w th all warmth, and to flie the aier in moist or cold 
wethers. I have not ben fit for such a iourney as this in 
this winter time, no not in my best health, and much les 
now, being possessed with an extreame cold, and the rume 
and the cough go increasing upon me, as I take not rest 
above 2 or 3 houres in the night at the most. Of thes 
things I thought to advertis you to the end her Ma tie 
may know the same, and not to expect that state of body 
or ability in me, the w ch I fele and know is far from me. 
And thus beseeching the lord to preserve her Ma tie in all 
helth & roialle felicities even to her own roiall heartes 
desier 

I end this 9 of December 1596 

Your very lo : frend 

T. BUCKEHURST. 

To the right honorable my very good frend M r Secre- 
tary Cecille, be theas dlr. 



APPENDIX. xxxvii 

No. V. 

Sir, 

This enclosed letter came to me this forenone, about xi 
of the clock. By this you may se that the Governour of 
Diepe landed at Newhaven in Sussex yesterday, being 
thursday in the afternone having w th him a 100 persons 
and lodged the same night at Lewis and purposed to be 
gon the next day, being this friday morning by 5 of the 
clock. This Gentleman M r Shurley being a Justis of 
peace I dout not but will do his best to acomodate him, 
but I fear he will be forced to tary at Lewis longer than 
his apointed time of departure before a 100 horse can be 
there upon such a sodain provided for him. I have there- 
fore sent away now presently my messenger w th on letter 
to Sir Walter Covert who is the next deputy lieftenant 
dwelling nere Lewis to assemble as many of the Gentle- 
men as he can & to repair unto him & do him all the honor 
he can by attending upon him and seeing him furnished 
w th all his desieres as much as he can performe for him. 
And I have sent one other letter to Grinsted Town in Sus- 
sex w ch is 14 miles from Lewis & is the next Town in 
which he must either renew his horses or lodge all night 
— written to the Constables there (for there is no justice 
nere by 7 miles) to se him and his trains furnished w th 
horses and all things he shall desier fit for him. This Is 
all that can be doon by me upon this sodain. What far- 
der is to be doon by any to mete him from thens or in 
Surrey where my lord admiral] comandes onlie you ar 
to consider. His way from Lewis to London is thus: — 



XXXVlll 



APPENDIX. 



Sussex. From Lewis to Est Grinsted, 
a very good towne, able to 
receive him 

Surrey. From Est Grinsted to God- 
stone therein are only 2 
Innes and not above 5 or 6 
houses besides 

Surrey. From Godstone to Croydon 
Surrey. From Croidon to London 



14. miles 



7. miles 

7. miles* 
7. miles 



In hast this 18 of April 1600. 

Your very loving frend 

T. Buchurst. 

I have ben this night by my yesterdaies going upon 
the water so extremely afflicted w th the cold as all this 
night I did nothing but cough, so as this morning I sent 
for D r . Barmesdale and D r . Smith my phisician by whos 
advise I have this morning taken physick & cannot come 
abrode these 3 or 4 daies at the lowest. 

Hereof I besech you let her Ma. know becaus she 
comanded me to be at the Court on Satturday w ch I can 
not now doe. 

To the right honorable Mr. Secretary Cecil be thease 
geven. 



APPENDIX. 



No. VI. 



£ The following letter seems to refer to the taking of a 
Spanish treasure-ship, called a carrack, by Sir R. Levi- 
son and Sir W. Mounson, valued at a million of ducats.] 

Good Mr. Secretary, 

Your good newes brought unto me a doble ioy, on that 
God doth thus continually so gretly bles her Ma tie with 
such worthy fortunes over her Enemies, and w th all bring- 
ing so gret a benefit to herself, The other that it pleased 
her Ma tie so graciously to impart the same to me, to whom 
I may truly say it is more welcome then & which yt can 
possibly be to any other, sins to our endles and exhaust- 
ing expences we may yet thus find some comfortable 
meanes of support. I had deasier to have come presently 
to her Ma. and meself in person to have rendered most 
humble thankes for so Gracious an advertisement, but I 
assure you her Ma. busines and services will not suffer 
it. I besech you therefore performe this office for me & 
render all humble thankes to her Ma tie for the same, the 
good newes that I can send her Ma. is, that God doth 
evermore fight for her, and confound her enemies, that 
her loiali subjects do make it their ioy & comfort to de- 
sier to live & dy in her servis, And that we her pore Ber- 
vantes here do spare no paines nor travels to farther her 
Maj. benefits, And even when the messenger brought 
Your ioifull letter unto me he found my Chamber full of 
Barons, Judges, all her Maj tlLh attornies and many other 



x\ APPENDIX. 

of her officers we all laboring to advance her Maj t,es re- 
venues with the yerely profit of many thousandes, Thus 

I rest 

Your very loving & 
17 June 1602 assured frend 

T. Buchtrst. 
To the Right Honorable Mr. Secretary Cecill be theas 
geaven. 

No. vn. 

I am newly returned from visiting my sick daughter at 
Cowdrey & now I am going to se how the Carik goods 
ar discharged from the ships & laid up in ledenhall, the 
w ch ons acomplished I meane to write to my lord admi- 
rall yourself & the Chauncelour that we all together may 
visite the state of thes goods & so take farder order for 
the disposing thereof to her Ma ties best benefitt. In the 
meane while I purpos to make a step into Sussex for 
some 5 or 6 days where I have not bene but on or 2 days 
these 5 yeares. 

And now I must desire you humbly on my behalf to 
move her Maj. in a sute w cb I hope her Ma'"' will think 
both reasonable right and charitable, for the better un- 
derstanding whereof I must pray you to geve me leave 
to use some little preface to the matter. 

There hath ben beyond seas for recovery of his helth 
by her Ma dea Gracious licens at Port Amouson in Ger- 
many on of my soons* thes :3 yeares, her Ma tie will re- 
member him by the token that of all the children I had 

* Henry, his second son. 



APPENDIX. xli 

he was the finest and comliest boy in nature w th such a 
rare curld hed as her Ma tie pleased to take a very special 
liking of him, but such was his misfortune as in a very 
grete & extreame sicknes he fell into a litargie sins w cb 
time from a litargie he hath fallen into a distraction of 
his senses, as for his cure by practise of physik and other- 
wise in England and abrode he hath cost me above 
20001s. But now having bene for his recovery thes 2 
yeares in Germany where I was put in hope that some 
good effect shold have folowed, I have about a month past 
receved certain advertisement that after all my cost & 
charges & so long a time consumed he is rather wors 
than better, and so no hope of any good to come from 
that place, wherefore now I am resolved to send him to 
Padoa where I will comit him to a counsell of phisicians, 
heare being assured that if by the skill & knowledge of 
physik he be to be cured that place above all the world 
doth yeld the most rare & excelent phisicians to performe 
it. 

The time for his travell to this place of Padoa is now 
betwixt this & Michelmas. And for that my soon 
Thomas Sacvill * who is so much devoted to the wars of 



* This Thomas Sackville, fourth son of Lord Buckhurst, who 
so much distinguished himself in the Turkish wars, is buried in 
the Sackville Chapel at Withyham. On his coffin is as follows: 
Corpus prenobilis Thome Sackvile Armigeri quarto- 
geniti filii Thome Comitis Dorsestri^e Magni Thesaurarii 
Anglii: &c. Xati 25° die Maii Anno Domini 1571, obiit 28° 

AUGUSTI 1640, EXPECTANS ReSURRECTIONEM n HELIUM ET 

jusTOBUM in et per Jesum Christum Domixum Nostrum. — 

See Historical Notices of Withyham, London, 1857. 



xlii APPENDIX. 

Hungary, hearing now of such preparations by the Turk 
against the next somer doth again desire to put himself 
into that servis, as also for that by reason of a fall w ch he 
had from his horse in the campe at his last being there 
he hath had a long pain w ch now thankes be to God is 
much lesned, but not fully cured, and is put in grete 
assurans that by the bathes of Padoa the same will be 
thereby recovered, therefore he is willing at my desier 
to pas to that place of Germany where his brother is, and 
so from thens to be his conductour unto Padoa as well 
for his brother's cure there as for his own, and so from 
thens to pas to the Emperor's Court and there to re- 
main this winter, from whens he will from time to time 
advertis me of such occurrents as there ar to be had, 
and by reason of his good acquaintance and knowledge 
w th divers of the best sort in that Court, by reson of his 
long folowing of thes wars, being also well knowen to 
the Emperor himself, and by her Ma t,es formour Gra- 
cious letters of recommendacion to his Ma tie on his behalf 
well knowen unto him, he douteth not but to be able 
to advertis very good ocurrents as they shall happen 
from time to time unto me. 

So as now Mr. Secretary for that his former licens is 
nere expiracion my harty desier unto you is that on my 
behalf you will with all humblenes move her Ma tie for 
her gracious licens unto him to pas into Germany for 
thes Turkish wars for 2 yeares more, and by that time I 
hope he will be satisfied if not surfeted w th his desier of 
this Turkish war, and be able to serve her Ma tie w ch is 
my only hope and desier that he may therein both spend 



APPENDIX. xliii 

and end his lief as some recompens and satisfaction to her 
Ma tie for that infinite bond of dett and dutie, w ch both I 
and al mine do owe unto her Ma tie . I besech you Sir 
so sone as you may conveniently to move her Ma tie for 
this her most Gracious licens of Travel for thes 2 yeares 
unto him, for he must bring his brother from Port Amou- 
son to Padoa by Michelmas at the fardest unto w ch it is 
10 daies travel and unto Port Amouson from Paris is 8. 
and therfore Quod facis fac cito. 

this 20 of August 1602 
Horseley. 

Yours assured 

T. BUCHURST. 

To the right honorable Mr. Secretary Cecill be theas 
dealivered. 

No. VIII. 

My very good Lord, 
You shall never nede to excuse to me either your hasty 
or slow writing (my assurans of and to you is and ever 
shall be such as it nedes no complements). My Lord 
Keeper and me self do purpos to morow to ride to Wind- 
sor, and the next being Thursday to find out the King 
& Quenes Ma t,€ at the place of driving, the caus is 
theare to do our duties to the Quene the prince, and prin- 
cesse, all the world nieing before hand to se her. Now 
if our resolucon be not good, but that any cours for us 
be better, then I pray you advise us, and we when you 
ar to come into the Chauncery or Checquer will then 
advise you & in this we will folow your advise, the whole 



xliv APPENDIX. 

end of our purpose and desier is to do our duties to the 
Quene and prince before she come to Windsor 
So I rest as you know 

Ever yours 

T. BlJCHURST. 

This Tuseday 1603. 

I pray you vouchsafe a few lines by the bearer if you 
have leisure, if not these by word of mouth unto him. 

To the right honorable the lord Cecill be these deali- 
vered. 

No. IX. 

I forbore to come in to you becaus ceremonies shold 
not troble you. I have nothing but to salute you, to tel 
you that your letter for the lease of St. John's in Oxford 
is according to my desier with a most effectual and just 
answer, such as if that satisfie not the partie nothing 
will, I go now to Horsely thens to Knole where I was 
not but ons in the first beginning all the yere, whens for 
3 or 4 daies to Buchurst where I was not these 7 yeres, 
I will not faile to be at Hampton Court, but to be at 
Windsor I hope I nede not, only my sute and hope in 
you is that except ther be necessary caus I be not sent 
for, and if ther be willingly upon your letter I come at 
midnight. I pray to God for your helth as for mine 

own and so rest 

Ever yours 

4 Sep r . 1605 T. Dorset. 

Dorset hous 

To the right honorable my very good lord the Erie of 

Salsbury. 



APPENDIX. xlv 



No. X. 



After my verie heartie comendacions ; Although with 
my great comfort I must acknowledge that there are 
many in your University, bothe for their excellent Learn- 
ing and rare virtues worthy to be Governours amongst 
you : To everie of whom I wish noe lesse good then they 
themselves can desire ; yet consideringe that in soe great 
varietie, all cannot be conveniently preferred to the 
office of Vice Chancellor, as well because that some are 
unwilling to sustain the burdens and charge thereof, as 
also for that some are altogether unprovided of many 
economical things, necessary to such a Magistrate, I 
would not that any man should deem the worse, either 
of himself or of me, if acording to his desert in his due 
time he hath not been commended to the said office, 
wherein since first I became your Chancellor, according 
to my best skill and understanding I have ever placed 
those whom I not only know to be most enabled for 
their learning and discretion in Government, but also 
such as by credible information I understand to be in 
other worldly respects most fitly accomodated thereunto : 
with which motives induced upon the ending of M r . 
Doctor Ayrayes Vice-Chancellorship (which never any 
man undertook and discharged with more credit than he 
hath done) I do for this next year ensuing appoint my 
loving friend M r . Doctor King his Maj s Chaplain & 
Dean of Christ Church to supply that place, To whom 
as to my self I pray you all to become obedient and 



xlvi APPENDIX. 

assistant so far forth as the private or the public weal 
shall require : In doing whereof you shall make me very 
much beholding unto you, as best knoweth the Almighty, 
unto whose most merciful protection I commend you all 
From Dorset House this xxxth of June 1607. 

Your very loving friend and Chancellor 

T. Dorset. 

No. XI. 

[Preamble of the Will of Thomas Sackville, Lord Buck- 
hurst, Earl of Dorset, &c] 

The Eternal God of Heaven and Earthe, the Father, 
the Sonne, and the Holie Ghoste, guyde and prosper this 
myne Intent and Purpose ; which in theire Name, I here 
take in Hand, and begynne; because that is a Truthe 
infallible, suche as every Christian oughte not onlie per- 
fective to knowe, and steadfastlie beleve, but also con- 
tinually to meditate and think upon ; Namely, That we 
are born to dye ; that nothing in this Worlde ys more 
certeyn then Deathe, nothing more incerteyne then the 
Hower of Deathe, and that noe Creature livinge knoweth 
neither when, where, nor howe it shall please Almightie 
God to call hym out of this Mortal life, so as here we live 
every Hower, naye, every Instant, a thousande wayes 
subject to the suddayne Stroake of Deathe, which oughte 
to terrifie, teache and warne us to make ourselves 
readye, as well in the Preparation of our Soules to God, 
as by the Disposition of all our Earthlie Fortunes to the 
Worlde, whensoever yt shall please the Heavenlie Power 



APPENDIX. xlvii 

to call us from this miserable and transitorye Life, unto 
that blessed and everlastinge Life to come ; Therefore, 
I Sir Thomas Sacville, of the Noble Order of the 
Garter, Knighte, Baron of Buckhurst, Earl of Dorset, 
and Lord High Treasurer of England beyng, at this pre- 
sent, Thanks be to Almightie God, in sounde and perfect 
Healthe, bothe of Bodie and Mynde, do here ordayne, 
constitute, and make this my present last Will and Tes- 
tament, the Eleaventh Daye of August, in the Yere of 
oure Lord God One thousand sixe hundred and seaven, 
in Manner and Forme followinge : First, therefore, as a 
Living Creature most bound thereunto, I here throwe 
down, and prostrate myself in all Humilitie and Thank- 
fulness at the Foote of my Creator, Redeemer, and Sa- 
viour, rendering unto his Divine Majestie, my most 
lowelie, hartie, and infinite Thankes, in that he hathe 
vouchsafed to create me a Man, endewed and enfused 
with Soule and Reason, and fashion'd like unto the linage 
of his owne eaternall Sonne, that mighte have made me 
a Bruitish and Soulelesse Beaste, to have fedd and 
grazed upon the Earthe, like unto those irrational living 
Creatures of the Field, but, speciallie, in that he hath 
pleased to make me a Christian Man, whereby in this 
Life I may joye and rejoyce with the Sounde and Badge 
of that Glorious Name : And when I go from hence, 
I may thereby, and thorough the Mercys and Goodness 
of Jesus Christe, departe, and dye in Assurance and 
Comforte of my Soule's and Bodie's Salvation and Resur- 
rection, and to rest at his Right Hand, in the Fruition" 
of those Cuuestial and Unspeakable Joyes, and Blessed- 



xlviii APPENDIX. 

ness that never shall have end. To Hym therefore, my 
most Merciful and Omnipotent God, and into the Hands 
of his inexplicable and eaternall Goodness I give, will, 
and bequeathe my Soule firmely and assuredlie trust- 
inge, believing, and freelie confessinge, that by the Deathe 
and Passion of his Sonne Jesus Christe, and by his onlie 
Mercy, Mean, and Mediation for me, and by none other, 
and not by any good Worke or Merit of myne own 
(although I must acknowledge that I am bound, upon 
Payne of Damnation, to doe as manye good Workes as 
possiblye I can, or may ; All which, when I have done, 
yet am I but an Unprofitable Servante, and a Synnefull 
Creature, full of all Iniquitie :) I shall live and partake 
with his Sainctes, in his Heavenlie Kingdome of that 
eaternall and inexplicable Blisse and Happiness which he 
hath prepared for his Elect, of which Number, thorough 
his infinite Mercy and Goodness, I do confidentlie and 
stedfastlie hope, knowe, and beleve, that I am one. And 
my Will is, That my Bodie be buried in the Church of 
Withiam in Sussex, Namelie, Within the Isle and Cha- 
pel there appropriate to the SACKVILLES my Ances- 
tors, and with, and amongest the rest of my Progenitors 
there Interred. 




NOTICES OF YAEIOUS EDITIONS. 

fcHE Tragedy of Ferrex and Porrex has 
passed through several editions. 

The first edition was published surrep- 
titiously, under the title of The Tragedy 
of Gorboduc, by William Griffith, in 1565. It has 
many incorrect readings, and must be considered as 
spurious. In the title the three first Acts are attri- 
buted to Thomas Norton. It is unnecessary to enter 
upon the question, which has been so often argued, re- 
lative to the share which Norton had in the composi- 
tion of this Play. I would rather rest upon the internal 
evidence which it affords to the unity of authorship ; 
but I may add the words of Warton : 1 " Thomas Nor- 
" ton's poetry is of a very different and a subordinate 
" cast ; and if we may judge from his share in our 
" metrical Psalmody, he seems to have been much more 
11 properly qualified to shine in the miserable mediocrity 
u of Sternhold's stanza, and to write spiritual rhymes 

1 English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 370. 1781. 
e 



1 VARIOUS EDITIONS. 

" for the solace of his illuminated brethren, than to 
" reach the hold and impassioned elevation of tragedy." 

The second and authorized edition was printed in 
small 8vo. in 1570-1, and contains 31 leaves : Im- 
printed at London by John Daye, dwelling over Alders- 
gate. This edition was revised and corrected by the 
Author. 

A third edition was printed in 1590, again under 
the title of The Tragedy of Gorboduc, but not an ex- 
act copy of Griffith's edition ; and although Mr. Spence 
says it went " through other editions," I am not able 
to discover any till that which was printed by Dodsley 
for Mr. Pope in 1736, with the Preface by Mr. Spence. 
It was again printed by Mr. Dodsley, in his " Old 
Plays," in 1744, and is given in Hawkins's " Origin 
of the English Drama," in 1773, after the first au- 
thorized edition. It appeared also among the " Poetical 
Works of Thomas Sackville," printed by Chappie, Lon- 
don, 1820, following chiefly the au+horized edition of 
1570-1. 

A reprint of the first edition, by Griffith, was care- 
fully done, in 1847, for the " Shakespeare Society;" 
but it is to be regretted that the learned Editor should 
have selected this in preference to the first authorized 
edition, which I have now the pleasure of once more 
reproducing in the following pages. 

E. W. S-W. 



f The Tragidie of Ferrex 

and Porrex, 

fet forth withovt addition or alte- 
ration but altogether as the fame was fliewed 
on ftage before the Qyeenes Maieftie 
abovt nine yeares past vz. the 
xviii. day of Janvarie 156 1, 
by the gentlemen of the 
Inner Temple. 



Seen and allowed &c. 



s<* Imprinted at London by 
John Daye, dwelling over 

Alderfgate. 



THE TKAGEDY OF 

FERREX AND PORREX, 



IN FIVE ACTS. 



r 




THE ARGUMENT OF THE TRAGEDY. 

iORBODUC, King of Britain, divided his 
realm in his life time to his sons, Ferrex 
and Porrex. The sons fell to dissention. 
The younger killed the elder. The mother, that more 
dearly loved the elder, for revenge hilled the younger. 
The people, moved with the cruelty of the fact, rose in 
rebellion, and slew both father and mother. The nobility 
assembled, and most terribly destroyed the rebels ; and 
afterwards, for ivant of issue of the Prince, whereby 
the succession of the crown became uncertain, they fell 
to civil war, in which both they and many of their 
issues were slain, and the land for a long time almost 
desolate and miserably wasted. 



THE NAMES OF THE SPEAKERS. 

Gorboduc, King of Great Britain. 

Videna, Queen, and wife to King Gorboduc. 

Ferrex, Elder son to King Gorboduc. 

Porrex, Younger son to King Gorboduc. 

Clotyn, Duke of Cornwall. 

Fergus, Duke of Albany. 

Mandud, Dulce of Loegris. 

Gwenard, Duke of Cumberland. 

Eubulus, Secretary to the King. 

Arostus, a Counsellor to the King. 

Dordan, a Counsellor assigned by the King to his 

eldest son, Ferrex. 
Philander, a Counsellor assigned by the King to liis 

youngest son, Porrex. 

Both being of the old king's council before. 
Hermon, a Parasite remaining with Ferrex. 
Tyndar, a Parasite remaining with Porrex. 
Xuxtius, a Messenger of the elder brother's death. 
Xuntius, a Messenger of Duke Fergus rising in arms. 
Marcella, a Lady of the Queen's privy -chamber. 
Ciiorus, four ancient and sage men of Britain. 



THE TRAGEDY OF FERREX AND 
PORREX. 

THE ORDER OF THE DUMB SHOW BEFORE THE FIRST 
ACT, AND THE SIGNIFICATION THEREOF. 

First, the music of violins began to play, during which 
came in upon the stage six wild men, clothed in leaves. 
Of whom the first bare on his neck a fagot of small 
sticks, which they all, both severally and together, 
assayed with all their strength to break ; but it could 
not be broken by them. At the length, one of them 
pulled out one of the sticks, and brake it : and the 
rest plucking out all the other sticks, one after another, 
did easily break them, the same being severed ; which 
being conjoined, they had before attempted in vain. 
After they had this done, they departed the stage, 
and the music ceased. Hereby was signified, that a 
-state knit in unity doth continue strong against all 



6 FEREEX AND POREEX. [act i. 

force, but being divided, is easily destroyed; as 
befel vpon Didce Gorboduc dividing his land to his 
two sons, which he before held in monarchy; and 
tijpon the dissention of the brethren, to ivhom it was 
divided. 



ACT I. Scene I. 

VlDENA. FeRREX. 

Videna. 
J2 HE silent night that brings the quiet pause. 
From painful travails of the weary day, 
Prolongs my careful thoughts, and makes 
me blame 
The slow Aurore, that so for love or shame 
Doth long delay to show her blushing face, 
And now the day renews my griefful plaint. 

Fer. My gracious lady, and my mother dear, 
Pardon my grief for your so grieved mind 
To ask what cause tormenteth so your heart. 

Vid. So great a wrong and so unjust despite, 
Without all cause against all course of kind ! * 

1 Kind — nature. 




sc. i.] FERREX AND PORREX. 7 

Fer. Such causeless wrong and so unjust despite, 
May have redress, or, at the least, revenge. 

Vid. Neither, my son ; such is the froward will, 
The person such, such my mishap and thine. 

Fer. Mine know I none, hut grief for your distress. 

Vid. Yes ; mine for thine, my son. A father ? no : 
In kind a father, not in kindliness. 

Fer. My Father ? why, I know nothing at all, 
Wherein I have misdone unto his grace. 

Vid. Therefore, the more unkind to thee and me. 
For, knowing well, my son, the tender love 
That I have ever borne, and bear to thee ; 
He grieved thereat, is not content alone, 
To spoil thee of my sight, my chiefest joy, 
But thee, of thy birth-right and heritage, 
Causeless, unkindly, and in wrongful wise, 
Against all law and right, he will bereave : 
Half of his kingdom he will give away. 

Fer. To whom? 

Vid. Even to Porrex, his younger son ; 

Whose growing pride I do so sore suspect, 
That, being rais'd to equal rule with thcc, 
M (thinks I see his envious heart to swell, 
FilTd with disdain and with ambitious hope. 



8 FERREX AND PORREX. [act i. 

The end the gods do know, whose altars I 
Full oft have made in vain of cattle slain 
To send the sacred smoke to Heaven's throne, 
For thee, my son, if things do so succeed, 
As now my jealous mind misdeemeth sore. 

Fer. Madam, leave care and careful plaint for me. 
Just hath my father been to every wight : 
His first injustice he will not extend 
To me, I trust, that give no cause thereof; 
My toother's pride shall hurt himself, not me. 

Vid. So grant the gods ! But yet, thy father so 
Hath firmly fixed his unmoved mind, 
That plaints and prayers can no whit avail ; 
For those have I assay'cl, hut even this day 
He will endeavour to procure assent 
Of all his council to his fond devise. 

Fer. Their ancestors from race to race have borne 
True faith to my forefathers and their seed : 
I trust they eke 1 will hear the like to me. 

Vid. There resteth all. But if they fail thereof, 
And if the end bring forth an ill success, 
On them and theirs the mischief shall befall, 
And so I pray the gods requite it them ; 
1 Eke— also. 



sc. i.] FEEEEX AND PORREX. 9 

And so they will, for so is wont to be, 

When lords and trusted rulers under kings, 

To please the present fancy of the prince, 

With wrong transpose the course of governance, 

Murders, mischief, and civil sword at length, 

Or mutual treason, or a just revenge, 

When right succeeding line returns again, 

By Jove's just judgment and deserved wrath, 

Brings them to cruel and reproachful death, 

And roots their names and kindreds from the earth. 

Fer. Mother, content you, you shall see the end. 

Vid. The end ! thy end I fear : Jove end me first ! 



ACT I. Scene II. 

Gorboduc. Abostus. Philander. Eubulus. 

Gov. My lords, whose grave advice and faithful aid 
Have long upheld my honour and my realm, 
And brought me to this age from tender years, 
Guiding so great estate with great renown : 
Now more importeth me, than erst 1 to use 
Your faith and wisdom, whereby yet I reign ; 

1 Erst — formerly. 



10 FEBBEX AND POBBEX. [act i. 

That when by death my life and rule shall cease, 
The kingdom yet may with unbroken course 
Have certain prince, by whose undoubted right 
Your wealth and peace may stand in quiet stay ; 
And eke that they, wiiom nature hath prepared, 
In time to take my place in princely seat, 
While in their father's time their pliant youth 
Yields to the frame of skilful governance, 
May so be taught and trained in noble arts, 
As what their fathers, which have reigned before, 
Have with great fame derived down to them, 
With honour they may leave unto their seed ; 
And not be thought, for their unworthy life, 
And for their lawless swerving out of kind, 
Worthy to lose what law and kind them gave ; 
But that they may preserve the common peace, 
The cause that first began and still maintains 
The lineal course of kings' inheritance, 
For me, for mine, for you, and for the state 
Whereof both I and you have charge and care. 
Thus do I mean to use your wonted faith 
To me and mine, and to your native land. 
My lords, be plain without all wry respect, 
Or poisonous craft to speak in pleasing wise, 



sc. II.] FERREX AND PORREX. 11 

Lest as the blame of ill succeeding things 
Shall light on you, so light the harms also. 

Aros. Your good acceptance so, most noble king, 
Of such our faithfulness, as heretofore 
We have employed in duties to your grace, 
And to this realm, whose worthy head you are, 
Well proves, that neither you mistrust at all, 
Nor we shall need in boasting wise to show 
Our truth to you, nor yet our wakeful care 
For you, for yours, and for our native land. 
Wherefore, O king, I speak as one for all, 
Sith all as one do bear you equal faith : 
Doubt not to use our counsels and our aids, 
Whose honours, goods, and lives are whole avow'd, 
To serve, to aid, and to defend your grace. 

Gor. My lords, I thank you all. This is the case : 
Ye know, the gods, who have the sovereign care 
For kings, for kingdoms, and for common weals, 
Gave me two sons in my more lusty age, 
Who now, in my decaying years, are grown 
Well towards riper state of mind and strength, 
To take in hand some greater princely charge. 
As yet they live and spend their hopeful days 
With mc, and with their mother, here in court. 



12 FERREX AND PORREX. [act i. 

Their age now asketh other place and trade, 
And mine also doth ask another change, 
Theirs to more travail, mine to greater ease. 
When fatal death shall end my mortal life, 
My purpose is to leave unto them twain, 
The realm divided in two sundry parts : 
The one, Ferrex, mine elder son, shall have, 
The other, shall the younger, Porrex, rule. 
That both my purpose may more firmly stand, 
And eke that they may better rule their charge, 
I mean forthwith to place them in the same ; 
That in my life they may both learn to rule, 
And I may joy to see their ruling well. 
This is, in sum, what I would have you weigh : 
First, whether ye allow my whole devise, 
And think it good for me, for them, for you, 
And for our country, mother of us all : 
And if ye like it and allow it well, 
Then, for their guiding and their governance, 
Show forth such means of circumstance, 
As ye think meet to be both known and kept. 
Lo, this is all ; now tell me your advice. 

Aros. And this is much, and asketh great advice : 
But for my part, my sovereign lord and king, 



sc. ii.] FEBBEX AND POBBEX. 13 

This do I think : Your majesty doth know, 
How under you, in justice and in peace, 
Great wealth and honour long we have enjoy'd : 
So as we cannot seem with greedy minds 
To wish for change of prince or governance : 
But if we like your purpose and devise, 
Our liking must he deemed to proceed 
Of rightful reason, and of heedful care, 
Not for ourselves, but for the common state, 
Sith our own state doth need no better change. 
I think in all as erst your grace hath said : 
First, when you shall unload your aged mind 
Of heavy care and troubles manifold, 
And lay the same upon my lords, your sons, 
Whose growing years may bear the burden long, 
(And long I pray the gods to grant it so) 
And in your life, while you shall so behold 
Their rule, their virtues, and their noble deeds, 
Such as their kind behighteth 1 to us all, 
Great be the profits that shall grow thereof; 
Your age in quiet shall the longer last, 
Your lasting age shall be their longer stay. 
For cares of kings, that rule as you have rul'd, 
1 Behif/ht — to promise. 



14 FERREX AND PORREX. [act i. 

For public wealth, and not for private joy, 
Do waste man's life and hasten crooked age, 
With furrowed face, and with enfeebled limbs, 
To draw on creeping death a swifter pace. 
They two, yet young, shall bear the parted reign 
With greater ease than one, now old, alone 
Can wield the whole, for whom much harder is 
With lessened strength the double weight to bear. 
Your eye, your counsel, and the grave regard 
Of father, yea, of such a father's name, 
iSTow at beginning of their sundred reign, 
When is the hazard of their whole success, 
Shall bridle so their force of youthful heats, 
And so restrain the rage of insolence, 
Winch most assails the young and noble minds, 
And so shall guide and train in temper'd stay 
Their yet green bending wits with reverend awe, 
As now inur'd with virtues at the first, 
Custom, O king, shall bring delightfulness, 
By use of virtue, vice shall grow in hate. 
But if you so dispose it, that the day 
Which ends your life, shall first begin their reign, 
Great is the peril, what will be the end, 
When such beginning of such liberties, 



sc. ii.] FEEEEX AND POEREX. 15 

Void of such stays as in your life do lie, 
Shall leave them free to random of their will, 
An open prey to traiterous flattery, 
The greatest pestilence of noble youth : 
Which peril shall be past, if in your life, 
Their temper'd youth with aged father's awe 
Be brought in ure 1 of skilful stayedness ; 
And in your life, their lives disposed so 
Shall length your noble life in joyfulness. 
Thus think I that your grace hath wisely thought, 
And that your tender care of common weal 
Hath bred this thought, so to divide your land, 
And plant your sons to bear the present rule, 
While you yet live to see their ruling well, 
That you may longer live by joy therein. 
What further means behooveful are and meet, 
At greater leisure may your grace devise, 
When all have said, and when we be agreed 
If this be best, to part the realm in twain, 
And place your sons in present government : 
Whereof, as I have plainly said my mind, 
So would I hear the rest of all my lords. 

Phil, In part I think as bath been said before ; 
1 Ure — use, practice. 



16 FERREX AND PORREX. [act i. 

In part, again, my mind is otherwise. 

As for dividing of this realm in twain, 

And lotting out the same in equal parts 

To either of my lords, your grace's sons, 

That think I best for this your realm's behoof, 

For profit and advancement of your sons, 

And for your comfort and your honour eke : 

But so to place them while your life do last, 

To yield to them your royal governance, 

To be above them only in the name 

Of father, not in kingly state also, 

I think not good for you, for them, nor us. 

This kingdom, since the bloody civil field 

Where Morgan slain did yield his conquer'd part 

Unto his cousin's sword in Camberland, 1 

Containeth all that whilom did suffice 

Three noble sons of your forefather Brute ; 

So your two sons it may suffice also, 

The more the stronger, if they 'gree in one. 

1 The event here alluded to is recorded in the History of 
Geoffrey of 31onmouth, b. II. c. 15. Morgan and Cunedagius, 
who were cousins, and nephews of Cordeilla Queen of Britain, 
having forcibly taken possession of the kingdom, divided it 
between themselves. Morgan, in his attempt afterwards to 
obtain the sole government, was slain by Cunedagius. 



sc. ii.] FEEBEX AND PORREX. 1 

The smaller compass that the realm doth hold, 

The easier is the sway thereof to wield, 

The nearer justice to the wronged poor, 

The smaller charge, and yet enough for one. 

And when the region is divided so 

That brethren be the lords of either part, 

Such strength doth nature knit between them both, 

In sundry bodies by conjoined love, 

That, not as two, but one of doubled force, 

Each is to other as a sure defence : 

The nobleness and glory of the one 

Doth sharp the courage of the other's mind, 

With virtuous envy to contend for praise. 

And such an equalness hath nature made 

Between the brethren of one father's seed, 

As an unkindly wrong it seems to be, 

To throw the brother subject under feet 

Of him, whose peer he is by course of kind ; 

And Nature, that did make this equalness, 

Oft so repineth at so great a wrong, 

That oft she raiseth up a grudging grief 

In younger brethren at the elder's state : 

Whereby both towns and kingdoms have been rased. 

And famous stocks of royal blood destroyed : 



18 FERREX AND PORREX. [act i. 

The brother, that should be the brother's aid, 

And have a wakeful care for his defence, 

Gapes for his death, and blames the lingering years 

That draw not forth his end with faster course ; 

And, oft impatient of so long delays, 

With hateful slaughter he prevents the fates, 

And heaps a just reward for brother's blood, 

With endless vengeance on his stock for aye. 

Such mischiefs here are wisely met withal ; 

If equal state may nourish equal love, 

Where none hath cause to grudge at other's good. 

But now the head to stoop beneath them both, 

~Ne kind, ne reason, ne good order bears. 

And oft it hath been seen, where nature's course 

Hath been perverted in disordered wise, 

When fathers cease to know that they should rule, 

The children cease to know they should obey ; 

And often over kindly tenderness 

Is mother of unkindly stubbornness. 

I speak not this in envy or reproach, 

As if I grudg'd the glory of your sons, 

Whose honour I beseech the gods increase : 

Nor yet as if I thought there did remain 

So filthy cankers in their noble breasts, 



sc. ii.] FERREX AND PORREX. 19 

Whom I esteem (which is their greatest praise) 
Undoubted children of so good a king. 
Only I mean to show by certain rules, 
Which kind hath graft within the mind of man, 
That Nature hath her order and her course, 
Which (being broken) doth corrupt the state 
Of minds and things, ev'n in the best of all. 
My lords, your sons, may learn to rule of you, 
Your own example in your noble court 
Is fittest guider of their youthful years. 
If you desire to see some present joy 
By sight of their well ruling in your life, 
See them obey, so shall you see them rule : 
Who so obeyeth not with humbleness 
Will rule with outrage and with insolence. 
Long may they rule, I do beseech the gods, 
Long 1 may they learn, ere they begin to rule. 
If kind and fates would suffer, I would wish 
Them aged princes, and immortal kings. 
Wherefore, most noble king, I well assent 
Between your sons that you divide your realm, 
And as in kind, so match them in degree. 
But while the gods prolong your royal life, 
Prolong your reign ; for thereto live you here, 
1 But Vm\r.—Edit. 1570. 



20 FERREX AND PORREX. [act i. 

And therefore have the gods so long forborne 
To join you to themselves, that still you might 
Be prince and father of our common weal. 
They, when they see your children ripe to rule, 
Will make them room, and will remove you hence, 
That yours, in right ensuing of your life, 
May rightly honour your immortal name. 

Eub. Your wonted true regard of faithful hearts 
Makes me, O king, the bolder to presume 
To speak what I conceive within my breast ; 
Although the same do not agree at all 
With that which other here my lords have said, 
Nor which yourself have seemed best to like. 
Pardon I crave, and that my words be deem'd 
To flow from hearty zeal unto your grace, 
And to the safety of your common weal. 
To part your realm unto my lords, your sons, 
I think not good for you, ne yet for them, 
But worst of all for this our native land. 
Within one land, one single ride is best : 
Divided reigns do make divided hearts ; 
But peace preserves the country and the prince. 
Such is in man the greedy mind to reign, 
So great is his desire to climb aloft, 



sc. ii.] FEEBEX AND POBREX, 21 

In worldly stage the stateliest parts to bear, 
That faith and justice, and all kindly love, 
Do yield unto desire of sovereignty, 
Where equal state doth raise an equal hope 
To win the thing that either would attain. 
Your grace remembereth how in passed years, 
The mighty Brute, first prince of all this land, 1 
Possess'd the same, and rul'd it well in one : 
He, thinking that the compass did suffice 
For his three sons three kingdoms eke to make, 
Cut it in three, as you would now in twain. 
But how much British blood hath since been spilt, 
To join again the sunder'd unity ! 
What princes slain before their timely hour ! 
What waste of towns and people in the land ! 
What treasons heap'd on murders and on spoils ! 
Whose just revenge ev'n yet is scarcely ceas'd, 
Kuthful remembrance is yet raw in mind. 
The gods forbid the like to chance again : 
And you, O king, give not the cause thereof. 
My lord Ferrex, your elder son, perhaps 
( Whom kind and custom gives a rightful hope 
To be your heir, and to succeed your reign) 
1 See Geoffrey of Monmouth, book I. 



22 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. i. 

Shall think that he doth suffer greater wrong 

Than he perchance will bear, if power serve. 

Porrex, the younger, so uprais'cl in state, 

Perhaps in courage will be rais'd also. 

If flattery then, which fails not to assail 

The tender minds of yet unskilful youth, 

In one shall kindle and increase disdain, 

And envy in the other's heart inflame, 

This fire shall waste their love, their lives, their land, 

And ruthful ruin shall destroy them both. 

I wish not this, O king, so to befall, 

But fear the thing, that I do most abhor. 

Give no beginning to so dreadful end, 

Keep them in order and obedience, 

And let them both by now obeying you, 

Learn such behaviour as beseems their state ; 

The elder, mildness in his governance, 

The younger, a yielding contentedness. 

And keep them near unto your presence still, 

That they, restrained by the awe of you, 

May live in compass of well tempered stay, 

And pass the perils of their youthful years. 

Your aged life draws on to feebler time, 

Wherein you shall less able be to bear 



sc. ii.] FERREX AND PORREX. 23 

The travails that in youth you have sustain'd, 
Both in your person's and your realm's defence. 
If planting now your sons in further parts, 
You send them further from your present reach, 
Less shall you know how they themselves demean : 
Traiterous corrupters of their pliant youth 
Shall have unspied a much more free access ; 
And if ambition and inflam'd disdain 
Shall arm the one, the other, or them both, 
To civil war, or to usurping pride, 
Late shall you rue that you ne reck'd 1 before. 
Good is I grant of all to hope the best, 
But not to live still dreadless of the worst. 
So trust the one that th' other be foreseen. 
Arm not unskilfulness with princely power. 
But you that long have wisely rul'd the reins 
Of royalty within your noble realm, 
So hold them, while the gods, for our avails, 
Shall stretch the thread of your prolonged days. 
Too soon he clomb into the flaming car, 
Whose want of skill did set the earth on fire. 
Time, and example of your noble Grace, 
Shall teach your sons both to obey and rule. 
1 Reck — to heed, to care for. 



24 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. i. 

When time hath taught them, time shall make them 

place, 
The place that now is full : and so I pray 
Long it remain, to comfort of us all. 

Gov. I take your faithful hearts in thankful part : 
But sith I see no cause to draw my mind, 
To fear the nature of my loving sons, 
Or to misdeem that envy or disdain 
Can there work hate, where nature planteth love ; 
In one self purpose do I still abide. 
My love extendeth equally to both, 
My land sufficeth for them both also. 
Humber shall part the marches of their realms : 
The southern part the elder shall possess, 
The northern shall Porrex, the younger, rule. 
In quiet I will pass mine aged days, 
Free from the travail, and the painful cares, 
That hasten age upon the worthiest kings. 
But lest the fraud, that ye do seem to fear, 
Of flattering tongues, corrupt their tender youth, 
And writhe them to the ways of youthful lust, 
To climbing pride, or to revenging hate, 
Or to neglecting of their careful charge 
Lewdly to live in wanton recklessness, 



sc. n.] FEBBEX AND POBBEX. 25 

Or to oppressing of the rightful cause, 

Or not to wreak the wrongs done to the poor, 

To tread down truth, or favour false deceit ; 

I mean to join to either of my sons 

Some one of those, whose long approved faith 

And wisdom tried, may well assure my heart, 

That mining fraud shall find no way to creep 

Into their fenced ears with grave advice. 

This is the end ; and so I pray you all 

To bear my sons the love and loyalty 

That I have found within your faithful breasts. 

Aros. You, nor your sons, my sovereign lord, shall want 
Our faith and service, while our hearts do last. 

[Exewnt. 
Chorus. 
When settled stay doth hold the royal throne 

In steadfast place, by known and doubtless right, 
And chiefly when descent on one alone 

Makes single and unparted reign to light ; 
Each change of course unjoints the whole estate, 
And yields it thrall to ruin by debate. 

The strength that knit by fast accord in one, 
Against all foreign power of mighty foes, 



26 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. i. 

Could of itself defend itself alone, 

Disjoined once, the former force doth lose. 
The sticks, that sunder'd brake so soon in twain, 
In fagot bound attempted were in vain. 

Oft tender mind that leads the partial eye 
Of erring parents in their children's love, 

Destroys the wrongly loved child thereby. 
This doth the proud son of Apollo prove, 

Who, rashly set in chariot of his sire, 

Inflam'd the parched earth with heaven's fire. 

And this great king that doth divide his land, 
And change the course of his descending crown, 

And yields the reign into his children's hand, 
From blissful state of joy and great renown, 

A mirror shall become to princes all, 

To learn to shun the cause of such a fall. 



END OP THE FIRST ACT. 



FEBEEX AND PORREX. 27 



THE ORDER AND SIGNIFICATION OF THE DUMB SHOW 
BEFORE THE SECOND ACT. 

First, the music of cornets began to play, during which 
came in upon the stage a king accompanied with a 
number of his nobility and gentlemen. And after 
he had placed himself in a chair of estate prepared 
for him, there came and kneeled before him a grave 
and aged gentleman, and offered up unto him a cup 
of wine in a glass, ivhich the king refused. After 
him comes a brave and lusty young gentleman, and 
presents the king with a cup of gold filled with 
poison, which the king accepted, and drinking the 
same, immediately fell down dead upon the stage, 
and so was carried thence away by his lords and 
gentlemen, and then the music ceased. Hereby ivas 
signified, that as glass by nature holdeth no poison, 
but is clear and may easily be seen through, ne boweth 
by any art; so a faithful counsellor holdeth no treason, 
but is plain and open, ne yieldeth to any indiserei t 
affection, but giveth wholesome counsel, ivhich the ill 
advised prince refuseth. The delightful gold fiZL d 



28 FERREX AND PORREX. [act ii. 

with poison betokeneth flattery, which under fair 
seeming of 'pleasant words beareth deadly poison, 
which destroy eth the prince that receiveth it. As befel 
in the two brethren, Ferrex and Porrex, who, refusing 
the wholesome advice of grave counsellors, credited 
these young parasites, and brought to themselves death 
and destruction thereby. 



ACT II. Scene I. 

Ferrex. Hermon. Dordan. 

Ferrex. 
MABVEL much what reason led the king, 
My father, thus, without all my desert, 
To reave me half the kingdom, winch by course 

Of law and nature should remain to me. 

Her. If you with stubborn and untamed pride 

Had stood against him in rebelling wise ; 

Or if, with grudging mind, you had envied 

So slow a sliding of his aged years ; 

Or sought before your time to haste the course 

Of fatal death upon his royal head ; 

Or stain'd your stock with murder of your kin ; 




sc. i.] FEBREX AND PORREX. 29 

Some face of reason might perhaps have seem'd 
To yield some likely cause to spoil ye thus. 

Fer. The wreakful gods pour on my cursed head 
Eternal plagues and never-dying woes, 
The hellish prince adjudge my damned ghost 
To Tantale's thirst, or proud Ixion's wheel, 
Or cruel Gripe 1 to gnaw my growing heart, 
To during torments and unquenched flames, 
If ever I conceiv'd so foul a thought, 
To wish his end of life, or yet of reign. 

Dor. Ne yet your father, most noble prince, 
Did ever think so foul a thing of you ; 
For he, with more than father's tender love, 
While yet the fates do lend him life to rule, 
(Who long might live to see your ruling well) 
To you, my lord, and to his other son, 
Lo, he resigns his realm and royalty ; 
Which never would so wise a prince have done, 
If he had once misdeem'd that in your heart 
There ever lodged so unkind a thought. 
But tender love, my lord, and settled trust 
Of your good nature, and your noble mind, 
Made him to place you thus in royal throne, 
1 Gripe — Griffin. 



30 FERREX AND PORREX. [act ii. 

And now to give you half his realm to guide ; 
Yea, and that half which, in abounding store 
Of things that serve to make a wealthy realm, 
In stately cities, and in fruitful soil, 
In temperate breathing of the milder heaven, 
In things of needful use, which friendly sea 
Transports by traffic from the foreign parts, 
In flowing wealth, in honour, and in force, 
Doth pass the double value of the part 
That Porrex hath allotted to his reign. 
Such is your case, such is your father's love. 

Fer. Ah love, my friends ! Love wrongs not whom 
he loves. 

Dor. ~Ne yet he wrongeth you, that giveth you 
So large a reign, ere that the course of time 
Bring you to kingdom by descended right, 
Which time perhaps might end your time before. 

Fer. Is this no wrong, say you, to reave from me 
My native right of half so great a realm, 
And thus to match his younger son with me 
In equal pow'r, and in as great degree ? 
Yea, and what son ? The son whose swelling pride 
Would never yield one point of reverence, 
WTien I the elder and apparent heir 



sc. i.] FERREX AND PORREX. 31 

Stood in the likelihood to possess the whole ; 
Yea, and that son which from his childish age 
Envieth mine honour, and doth hate my life. 
What will he now do, when his pride, his rage, 
The mindful malice of his grudging heart 
Is arm'd with force, with wealth, and kingly state ? 

Her. Was this not wrong ? yea, ill advised wrong, 
To give so mad a man so sharp a sword, 
To so great peril of so great mishap, 
Wide open thus to set so large a way ? 

Dor. Alas, my lord, what griefful thing is this, 
That of your brother you can think so ill ? 
I never saw him utter likely sign, 
Whereby a man might see or once misdeem 
Such hate of you, ne such unyielding pride. 
Ill is their counsel, shameful be their end, 
That raising such mistrustful fear in you, 
Sowing the seed of such unkindly hate, 
Travail by treason to destroy you both. 
Wise is your brother, and of noble hope, 
Worthy to wield a large and mighty realm. 
So much a stronger friend have you thereby, 
Whose strength is your strength if you 'gree in one. 

Her. If Nature and the Gods had pinched so 



32 FERREX AND PORREX. [act ii. 

Their flowing bounty, and their noble gifts 

Of princely qualities, from you, my lord, 

And pour'd them all at once in wasteful wise 

Upon your father's younger son alone ; 

Perhaps there be, that in your prejudice 

Would say that birth should yield to worthiness. 

But sith in each good gift and princely art 

Ye are his match, and in the chief of all 

In mildness and in sober governance 

Ye far surmount ; and sith there is in you 

Sufficing skill and hopeful towardness 

To wield the whole, and match your elder's praise ; 

I see no cause why ye should lose the half, 

Ne would I wish you yield to such a loss : 

Lest your mild sufferance of so great a wrong, 

Be deemed cowardice and simple dread, 

Which shall give courage to the fiery head 

Of your young brother to invade the whole. 

While yet therefore sticks in the people's mind 

The loathed wrong of your disheritance ; 

And ere your brother have, by settled power, 

By guileful cloak of an alluring show, 

Got him some force and favour in the realm ; 

And while the noble queen, your mother, lives, 



sc. i.] FEBREX AND PORREX. 33 

To work and practice all for your avail ; 

Attempt redress by arms, and wreak yourself 

Upon his life that gaineth by your loss, 

Who now to shame of you, and grief of us, 

In your own kingdom triumphs over you. 

Show now your courage meet for kingly state, 

That they which have avow'd to spend their goods. 

Their lands, their lives and honours in your cause, 

May be the bolder to maintain your part, 

When they do see that coward fear in you 

Shall not betray, ne fail their faithful hearts. 

If once the death of Porrex end the strife, 

And pay the price of his usurped reign, 

Your mother shall persuade the angry king, 

The lords, your friends, eke shall appease his rage. 

For they be wise, and well they can foresee, 

That ere long time your aged father's death 

Will bring a time when you shall well requite 

Their friendly favour, or their hateful spite, 

Yea, or their slackness to advance your cause. 

u Wise men do not so hang on passing state 

" Of present princes, chiefly in their age, 

" But they will further cast their reaching eye, 

" To view and weigh the times and reigns to como. 1 ' 

D 



34 FERREX AND PORREX. [act ii. 

Ne is it likely, though the king be wroth, 

That he yet will, or that the realm will bear, 

Extreme revenge upon his only son : 

Or, if he would, what one is he that dare 

Be minister to such an enterprise ? 

And here you be now placed in your own, 

Amid your friends, your vassals, and your strength : 

We shall defend and keep your person safe, 

Till either counsel turn his tender mind, 

Or age or sorrow end his weary days. 

But if the fear of gods, and secret grudge 

Of nature's law, repining at the fact, 

Withhold your courage from so great attempt, 

Know ye, that lust of kingdoms hath no law. 

The gods do bear, and well allow in kings, 

The things that 1 they abhor in rascal routs. 

" When kings on slender quarrels run to wars, 

u And then in cruel and unkindly wise, 

u Command thefts, rapes, murders of innocents, 

" The spoil of towns, ruins of mighty realms ; 

" Think you such princes do suppose themselves 

u Subject to laws of kind, and fear of gods?" 

Mulders and violent thefts in private men 

1 The thinges they abhur.— Edit 1570. 



so. i.J FERREX AND PORREX. 35 

Are heinous crimes, and full of foul reproach ; 
Yet none offence, but decked with glorious name 
Of noble conquests in the hands of kings. 
But if you like not yet so hot devise, 
Ne list to take such vantage of the time, 
But, though with peril of your own estate, 
You will not be the first that shall invade ; 
Assemble yet your force for your defence, 
And for your safety stand upon your guard. 

Dor. O heaven ! was there ever heard or known, 
So wicked counsel to a noble prince ? 
Let me, my lord, disclose unto your grace 
This heinous tale, what mischief it contains ; 
Your father's death, your brother's, and your own, 
Your present murder, and eternal shame. 
Hear me, O king, and suffer not to sink 
So high a treason in your princely breast. 

Fer. The mighty gods forbid that ever I 
Should once conceive such mischief in my heart. 
Although my brother hath bereft my realm, 
And bear, perhaps, to me an hateful mind, 
Shall I revenge it with his death therefore ? 
Or shall I so destroy my father's life 
That gave me life ? The gods forbid, I say : 



36 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. ii. 

Cease you to speak so any more to me ; 

Ne you, my friend, with answer once repeat 

So foul a tale. In silence let it die. 

What lord or subject shall have hope at all, 

That under me they safely shall enjoy 

Their goods, their honours, lands, and liberties, 

With whom, neither one only brother dear, 

Ne father dearer, could enjoy their lives ? 

But, sith I fear my younger brother's rage, 

And sith, perhaps, some other man may give 

Some like advice, to move his grudging head 

At mine estate ; which counsel may perchance 

Take greater force with him, than this with me ; 

I will in secret so prepare myself, 

As, if his malice or his lust to reign 

Break forth in arms or sudden violence, 

I may withstand his rage and keep mine own. 

[Exeunt Ferrex and Hermon. 
Dor, I fear the fatal time now draweth on, 
When civil hate shall end the noble line 
Of famous Brute, and of his royal seed. 
Great Jove, defend the mischiefs now at hand ! 
O that the secretary's wise advice 
Had erst been heard, when he besought the king 



sc. i.] FERREX AND PORREX. 37 

Not to divide his land, nor send his sons 

To further parts, from presence of his court, 

Ne yet to yield to them his governance. 

Lo, such are they now in the royal throne 

As was rash Phaeton in Phoebus' car ; 

Ne then the fiery steeds did draw the flame 

With wilder random through the kindled skies, 

Than traiterous counsel now will whirl about 

The youthful heads of these unskilful kings. 

But I hereof their father will inform ; 

The reverence of him perhaps shall stay 

The growing mischiefs, while they yet are green. 

If this help not, then woe unto themselves, 

The prince, the people, the divided land ! [Exit. 

ACT II. Scene II. 
Porrex. Tyndar. Philander. 
Pot. And is it thus ? and doth he so prepare 
Against his brother as his mortal foe ? 
And now, while yet his aged father lives ? 
Neither regards he him ? nor fears he me ? 
War would he have ? and he shall have it so. 
Tyn. I saw, myself, the great prepared store 



38 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. n. 

Of horse, of armour, and of weapons there : 

Ne bring I to my lord reported tales, 

Without the ground of seen and searched truth. 

Lo, secret quarrels run about his court, 

To bring the name of you, my lord, in hate. 

Each man, almost, can now debate the cause, 

And ask a reason of so great a wrong, 

Why he, so noble and so wise a prince, 

Is, as unworthy, reft his heritage ? 

And why the king, misled by crafty means, 

Divided thus his land from course of right ? 

The wiser sort hold down their griefful heads ; 

Each man withdraws from talk and company 

Of those that have been known to favour you : 

To hide the mischief of their meaning there, 

Rumours are spread of your preparing here. 

The rascal numbers of unskilful sort 

Are filled with monstrous tales of you and yours. 

In secret, I was counselled by my friends 

To haste me thence, and brought you, as you know, 

Letters from those that both can truly tell, 

And would not write unless they knew it well, 

Phil. My lord, yet ere you move unkindly war, 
Send to your brother, to demand the cause. 



sc. ii.] FERREX AND PORREX. 39 

Perhaps some traiterous tales have filled his ears 
With false reports against your noble grace ; 
Which, once disclosed, shall end the growing strife, 
That else, not stay'd with wise foresight in time, 
Shall hazard both your kingdoms and your lives. 
Send to your father eke, he shall appease 
Your kindled minds, and rid you of this fear. 

For. Rid me of fear ! I fear him not at all ; 
Ne will to him, ne to my father send. 
If danger were for one to tarry there, 
Think ye it safety to return again ? 
In mischiefs, such as Ferrex now intends, 
The wonted courteous laws to messengers 
Are not observ'd, which in just war they use. 
Shall I so hazard any one of mine ? 
Shall I betray my trusty friends to him, 
That have disclosed his treason unto me ? 
Let him entreat that fears ; I fear him not. 
Or shall I to the king, my father, send ? 
Yea, and send now, while such a mother lives, 
That loves my brother, and that hateth me ? 
Shall I give leisure, by my fond delays, 
To Ferrex to oppress me all unware ? 
I will not ; but I will invade his realm, 



40 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. ii. 

And seek the traitor prince within his court. 
Mischief for mischief is a due reward. 
His wretched head shall pay the worthy price 
Of this his treason and his hate to me. 
Shall I abide, and treat, and send, and pray, 
And hold my yielding throat to traitor's knife, 
AVhile I, with valiant mind and conquering force, 
Might rid myself of foes, and win a realm ? 
Yet rather, when I have the wretch's head, 
Then to the king, my father, will I send. 
The bootless case may yet appease his wrath : 
If not, I will defend me as I may. 

[Exeunt Pokrex and Tyndar. 
Phil. Lo, here the end of these two youthful kings ! 
The father's death ! the ruin of their realms ! 
" O most unhappy state of counsellors, 
" That light on so unhappy lords and times, 
" That neither can their good advice be heard, 
" Yet must they bear the blames of ill success." 
But I will to the king, their father, haste, 
Ere thifi mischief come to the likely end ; 
That, if the mindful wrath of wreakful gods 
(Since mighty Hum's fall not yet appeas'd 
With these poor remnants of the Trojan name) 



sc. ii.] FEBBEX AND POBBEX. 41 

Have not determin'd by unmoved fate, 

Out of this realm to raze the British line, 

By good advice, by awe of father's name, 

By force of wiser lords, this kindled hate 

May yet be quench'd ere it consume us all. [Exit. 

Chorus. 
When youth, not bridled with a guiding stay, 

Is left to random of their own delight, 
And wields whole realms by force of sovereign sway, 

Great is the danger of unmaster'd might, 
Lest skilless rage throw down, with headlong fall, 
Their lands, their states, their lives, themselves and all. 

When growing pride doth fill the swelling breast, 
And greedy lust doth raise the climbing mind, 

Oh, hardly may the peril be repress'd. 
Ne fear of angry gods, ne lawes kind, 

Ne country's care can fired hearts restrain, 

When force hath armed emy and disdain. 

When kings of foresight will neglect the rede * 
Of best advice, and yield to pleasing tales 
1 Rede — counsel. 



42 FERREX AND PORREX. [act n. 

That do their fancies' noisome humour feed, 

Ne reason nor regard of right avails. 
Succeeding heaps of plagues shall teach, too late, 
To learn the mischiefs of misguided state. 

Foul fall the traitor false, that undermines 
The love of brethren, to destroy them both. 

Woe to the prince, that pliant ear inclines, 

And yields his mind to poisonous tale that floweth 

From flattering mouth ! And woe to wretched land, 

That wastes itself with civil sword in hand ! 
Lo thus it is, poison in gold to take, 
And wholesome drink in homely cup forsake. 



END OF THE SECOND ACT. 



sc. i.] FEBEEX AND POEEEX. 43 



THE ORDER AND SIGNIFICATION OF THE DUMB SHOW 
BEFORE THE THIRD ACT. 

First, the music of flutes began to play, during which 
came in upon the stage, a company of mourners, all 
clad in black, betokening death and sorrow to ensue 
upon the ill-advised misgovernment and dissension 
of brethren, as befel upon the murder of Ferrex by 
his younger brother. After the mourners had passed 
thrice about the stage, they departed, and then the 
music ceased. 



ACT III. Scene I. 

GORBODUC EUBULUS. ArOSTUS. 

Gorboduc. 
CRUEL fates, O mindful wrath of gods, 
Whose vengeance, neither Simois' stained 
streams 

Flowing with blood of Trojan princes slain, 
Nor Phrygian fields made rank with corpses dead 
Of Asian kings and lords, can yet appease ; 




44 FERREX AND PORREX. [act iii. 

Ne slaughter of unhappy Priam's race, 

Nor Ilion's fall, made level with the soil, 

Can yet suffice : but still continued rage 

Pursues our lives, and from the farthest seas 

Doth chase the issues of destroyed Troy. 

" Oh, no man happy till Ins end be seen." 

If any flowing wealth and seeming joy 

In present years might make a happy wight, 

Happy was Hecuba, the wofulPst wretch 

That ever lived to make a mirror of; 

And happy Priam, with his noble sons ; 

And happy I, till now, alas ! I see 

And feel my most unhappy wretchedness. 

Behold, my lords, read ye this letter here ; 

Lo, it contains the ruin of our realm, 

If timely speed provide not hasty help. 

Yet, O ye gods, if ever woeful king 

Might move ye, kings of kings, wreak it on me 

And on my sons, not on this guiltless realm : 

Send down your wasting flames from wrathful skies, 

To reave me and my sons the hateful breath. 

Read, read my lords ; this is the matter why 

I calTd ye now, to have your good advice. 



sc. i.] FEEBEX AND POBREX. 45 

The letter from Dordan, the Counsellor of the 
elder Prince. 

Eubulus readeih the letter. 
My sovereign lord, what I am loath to write, 
But loathest am to see, that I am forc'd 
By letters now to make you understand. 
My lord Ferrex, your eldest son, misled 
By traiterous fraud of young untemper'd wits, 
Assembleth force against your younger son, 
Ne can my coimsel yet withdraw the heat 
And furious pangs of his inflamed head. 
Disdain, saith he, of his disheritance 
Arms him to wreak the great pretended wrong, 
With civil sword upon his brother's life. 
If present help do not restrain this rage, 
This flame will waste your sons, your land, and you. 
Your Majesty 9 s faithful, 

and most humble subject, 

Dordan. 

Aros. king, appease your grief, and stay your plaint ; 
Great is the matter, and a woeful case : 
But timely knowledge may bring timely help. 



46 FERREX AND PORREX. [act iii. 

Send for them both unto your presence here : 
The reverence of your honour, age, and state, 
Your grave advice, the awe of father's name, 
Shall quickly knit again this broken peace. 
And if in either of my lords, your sons, 
Be such untamed and unyielding pride, 
As will not bend unto your noble bests ; ' 
If Ferrex, the elder son, can bear no peer, 
Or Porrecc, not content, aspires to more 
Than you him gave above his native right ; 
Join with the juster side, so shall you force 
Them to agree, and hold the land in stay. 

Eub. "What meaneth this? Lo, yonder comes in haste 
Philander from my lord, your younger son. 

Enter Philander. 

Gor. The gods send joyful news ! 

Phil. The mighty Jove 

Preserve your majesty, O noble king. 

Gor. Philander, welcome : but how doth my son ? 

Phil. Your son, sir, lives, and healthy I him left. 
But yet, O king, the want of lustful health 
Could not be half so griefful to your grace, 
1 Hests — commands. 



sc. i.] FERREX AND PORREX. 47 

As these most wretched tidings that I bring. 

Gor. O heavens, yet more ? no end of woes to me ? 

Phil. Tyndar, king, came lately from the court 
Of Ferrex, to my lord your younger son, 
And made report of great prepared store 
For war, and saith that it is wholly meant 
Against Porreoc, for high disdain that he 
Lives now a king, and equal in degree 
With him that claimeth to succeed the whole, 
As by due title of descending right. 
Porrex is now so set on flaming fire, 
Partly with kindled rage of cruel wrath, 
Partly with hope to gain a realm thereby, 
That he in haste prepareth to invade 
His brother's land, and with unkindly war 
Threatens the murder of your elder son ; 
Ne could I him persuade, that first he should 
Send to his brother to demand the cause ; 
Nor yet to you to stay this hateful strife. 
Wherefore sith there no more I can be heard, 
I come myself now to inform your grace, 
And to beseech you, as you love the life 
And safety of your children and your realm. 
Now to employ your wisdom and your force 



43 FERREX AND PORREX. [act hi. 

To stay this mischief ere it be too late. 

Gov. Are they in arms ? would he not send to me ? 
Is this the honour of a father's name ? 
In vain we travail to assuage their minds, 
As if their hearts, whom neither brother's love, 
Nor father's awe, nor kingdom's cares, can move, 
Our counsels could withdraw from raging heat. 
Jove slay them both, and end the cursed line. 
For though perhaps fear of such mighty force 
As I, my lords, joined with your noble aids, 
May yet raise, shall repress their present heat, 
The secret grudge and malice will remain, 
The fire not quench' d, but kept in close restraint, 
Fed still within, breaks forth with double flame. 
Their death and mine must 'pease the angry gods. 

Phil. Yield not, O king, so much to weak despair : 
Your sons yet live, and long, I trust, they shall. 
If fates had taken you from earthly life, 
Before beginning of this civil strife, 
Perhaps your sons in their unmaster'd youth, 
Loose from regard of any living wight, 
Would run on headlong, with unbridled race, 
To their own death, and ruin of this realm. 
But sith the gods, that have the care for kings, 



sc. i.] FEBREX AND POREEX. 49 

Of things and times dispose the order so, 

That in your life this kindled flame breaks forth, 

While jet jour life, jour wisdom, and jour power, 

Maj staj the growing mischief, and repress 

The fier j blaze of their enkindled heat ; 

It seems, and so je ought to deem thereof, 

That loving Jove hath temper'd so the time 

Of this debate to happen in jour dajs, 

That jou jet living maj the same appease, 

And add it to the glory of jour age, 

And the j jour sons maj learn to live in peace. 

Beware, O king, the greatest harm of all, 

Lest, bj jour wailful plaints, jour hastened death 

Yield larger room unto their growing rage. 

Preserve jour life, the onlj hope of staj. 

And if jour highness herein list to use 

Wisdom or force, counsel or knightlj aid, 

Lo we, our persons, powers, and lives are jours ; 

Use us till death, O king, we are jour own. 

Eub. Lo, here the peril that was erst foreseen, 
When jou, O king, did first divide jour land, 
And yield jour present reign unto jour sons. 
But now, O noble prince, now is no time 
To wail and plain, and waste jour woeful life ; 
]•: 



50 FERREX AND PORREX. [act in. 

Now is the time for present good advice. 
Sorrow doth dark the judgment of the wit. 
u The heart unbroken, and the courage free 
" From feeble faintness of bootless despair, 
" Doth either rise to safety or renown 
" By noble valour of unvanquish'd mind, 
" Or yet doth perish in more happy sort.'' 
Your grace may send to either of your sons 
Some one both wise and noble personage, 
Which with good counsel, and with weighty name 
Of father, shall present before their eyes 
Your hest, your life, your safety, and their own, 
The present mischief of their deadly strife. 
And in the while, assemble you the force 
Which your commandment and the speedy haste 
Of all my lords here present can prepare. 
The terror of your mighty power shall stay 
The rage of both, or yet of one at least. 

Enter Nuntius. 
Nun. king, the greatest grief that ever prince did 
hear, 
That ever woeful messenger did tell, 
That ever wretched land hath seen before, 



sc. i.] FERBEX AND PORREX. 51 

I bring to you : Porrex your younger son 
With sudden force invaded hath the land 
That you to Ferrex did allot to rule ; 
And with his own most bloody hand he hath 
His brother slain, and doth possess his realm. 

Gor. O heavens, send down the flames of your revenge ! 
Destroy, I say, with flash of wreakful fire 
The traitor son, and then the wretched sire ! 
But let us go, that yet perhaps I may 
Die with revenge, and 'pease the hateful gods. 

[Exeunt. 
Chorus. 

The lust of kingdom knows no sacred faith, 

No rule of reason, no regard of right, 
No kindly love, no fear of heaven's wrath ; 

But with contempt of gods, and man's despite, 
Through bloody slaughter doth prepare the ways 

To fatal sceptre and accursed reign. 
The son so loathes the father's lingering days, 

Ne dreads his hand in brother's blood to stain. 
O wretched prince, ne dost thou yet record 

The yet fresh murders done within the land 
Of thy forefathers, when the cruel sword 

Bereft Morgan his life with cousin's hand ? 



52 FERREX AND PORREX. [act hi. 

Thus fatal plagues pursue the guilty race, 

"Whose murderous hand, imbru'd with guiltless blood, 
Asks vengeance still before the heaven's face, 

With endless mischiefs on the cursed brood. 
The wicked child thus brings to woeful sire 

The mournful plaints to waste his very life. 
Thus do the cruel flames of civil fire 

Destroy the parted reign with hateful strife. 
And hence doth spring the well from which doth flow 
The dead black streams of mourning, plaints, and woe. 



END OF THE THIRD ACT. 



FERREX AND PORREX. 53 



THE ORDER AND SIGNIFICATION OF THE DUMB SHOW 
BEFORE THE FOURTH ACT. 

First, the music of hautboys began to play, during 
which there came forth from under the stage, as 
though out of hell, three furies, Alecto, Megcera, and 
Tisiphone, clad in black garments sprinkled ivith 
blood and flames, their bodies girt with snakes, their 
heads spread with serpents instead of hair, the one 
bearing in her hand a snake, the other a whip, and 
the third a burning firebrand : each driving before 
them a king and a queen ; which, moved by furies, 
unnaturally had slain their own children. The 
names of the kings and queens were these, Tantalus, 
Medea, Athamas, Ino, Cambyses, Althea ; after tlmt 
the furies and these had passed about the stage thrice, 
they departed, and then the music ceased. Hereby 
was signified the unnatural murders to follow ; that 
is to say, Porrex slain by his own mother, and of 
Ling Gorboduc and queen Videna, killed by tin jr 
own subjects. 




54 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. iv. 

ACT IV. Scene I. 

VlDENA Sola. 

;HY should I live, and linger forth my time 
In longer life to double my distress ? 
me, most woeful wight, whom no mishap 
Long ere this day could have bereaved hence. 
Might not these hands, by fortune or by fate, 
Have pierc'd this breast, and life with iron reft ? 
Or in this palace here, where I so long 
Have spent my days, could not that happy hour 
Once, once have happ'd, in which these hugy frames 
With death by fall might have oppressed me ? 
Or should not this most hard and cruel soil, 
So oft where I have press' d my wretched steps, 
Sometime had ruth of mine accursed life, 
To rend in twain, and swallow me therein ? 
So had my bones possessed now in peace 
Their happy grave within the closed ground, 
And greedy worms had gnawn this pined heart 
"Without my feeling pain : so should not now 
This living breast remain the ruthful tomb, 



sc. i.] FERREX AND PORREX. 55 

Wherein my heart yielden to death is graved ; 

Nor dreary thoughts, with pangs of pining grief, 

My doleful mind had not afflicted thus. 

O my beloved son ! O my sweet child ! 

My dear Ferrex, my joy, my life's delight ! 

Is my beloved son, is my sweet child, 

My dear Ferrex, my joy, my life's delight, 

Murder'd with cruel death ? O hateful wretch ! 

O heinous traitor both to heaven and earth ! 

Thou, Porrex, thou this damned deed hast w r rought ; 

Thou, Porrex, thou shalt dearly bye 1 the same. 

Traitor to kin and kind, to sire and me, 

To thine own flesh, and traitor to thyself: 

The gods on thee in hell shall wreak their wrath, 

And here in earth this hand shall take revenge 

On thee, Porrex, thou false and caitiff wight. 

If after blood so eager were thy thirst, 

And murd'rous mind had so possessed thee, 

If such hard heart of rock and stony flint 

Liv'd in thy breast, that nothing else could like 

Thy cruel tyrant's thought but death and blood : 

Wild savage beasts, might not their slaughter serve 

To feed thy greedy will, and in the midst 

1 Bye — abye. To abide, to suffer for. 



56 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. iv. 

Of their entrails to stain thy deadly hands 

With blood deserv'd, and drink thereof thy fill ? 

Or if nought else but death and blood of man 

Might please thy lust, could none in Britain land, 

Whose heart betorn out of Ins panting breast 

With thine own hand, or work what death thou would'st, 

Suffice to make a sacrifice to 'pease 

That deadly mind and murderous thought in thee, 

But he who in the selfsame womb was wrapp'd, 

Where thou in dismal hour receivedst life ? 

Or if needs, needs thy hand must slaughter make, 

Mightest thou not have reach'd a mortal wound, 

And with thy sword have pierc'd this cursed womb 

That the accursed Porreoc brought to light, 

And given me a just reward therefore ? 

So Ferrex yet sweet life might have enjoyed, 

And to his aged father comfort brought, 

With some young son in whom they both might live. 

But whereunto waste I this ruthful speech, 

To thee that hast thy brother's blood thus shed ? 

Shall I still think that from this womb thou sprung ? 

That I thee bare ? or take thee for my son ? 

No, traitor, no ; I thee refuse for mine : 

Murderer, I thee renounce ; thou art not mine. 



sc. i.] FEBEEX AND POBREX. 57 

Never, O wretch, this womb conceived thee ; 
Nor never bode I painful throws for thee. 
Changeling to me thou art, and not my child, 
Nor to no wight that spark of pity knew. 
Ruthless, unkind, monster of nature's work, 
Thou never suck'd the milk of woman's breast ; 
But, from thy birth, the cruel tiger's teats 
Have nursed thee ; nor yet of flesh and blood 
Form'd is thy heart, but of hard iron wrought ; 
And wild and desert woods bred thee to life. 
But canst thou hope to 'scape my just revenge ? 
Or that these hands will not be wroke on thee ? 
Dost thou not know that Ferrex' mother lives, 
That loved him more dearly than herself? 
And doth she live, and is not veng'd on thee ? 



ACT IV. Scene II. 

Gorboduc. Ahostus. 

Gov. We marvel much, whereto this ling'ring stay 
Falls out so long : Porrex unto our court, 
By order of our letters, is return'd ; 
And Eubulus recciv'd from us behest, 



58 FERREX AND PORREX. [act it. 

At his arrival here, to give him charge 
Before our presence straight to make repair, 
And yet we have no word whereof he stays. 

Aros. Lo where he comes, and Eubulus with him. 

Enter Eubulus and Poreex. 

Eub. According to your highness' hest to me, 
Here have I Porrex brought, even in such sort 
As from his wearied horse he did alight, 
For that your grace did will such haste therein. 

Gor. We like and praise this speedy will in you, 
To work the thing that to your charge we gave. 
Porrex, if we so far should swerve from kind, 
And from those bounds which law of nature sets, 
As thou hast done by vile and wretched deed, 
In cruel murder of thy brother's life ; 
Our present hand could stay no longer time, 
But straight should bathe this blade in blood of thee, 
As just revenge of thy detested crime. 
No ; we should not offend the law of kind, 
If now this sword of ours did slay thee here : 
For thou hast murder'd him, whose heinous death 
Even nature's force doth move us to revenge 
By blood again ; and justice forceth us 



sc. ii.] FERREX AND PORREX. 59 

To measure death for death, thy due desert. 
Yet since thou art our child, and sith as yet 
In this hard case what word thou canst allege 
For thy defence, hy us hath not heen heard, 
We are content to stay our will for that 
Which justice hids us presently to work, 
And give thee leave to use thy speech at full, 
If ought thou have to lay for thine excuse. 

Por. Neither, O king, I can or will deny 
But that this hand from Ferreoc life hath reft : 
Which fact how much my doleful heart doth wail, 
Oh ! would it might as full appear to sight, 
As inward grief doth pour it forth to me. 

50 yet, perhaps, if ever ruthful heart 
Melting in tears within a manly breast, 
Through deep repentance of his bloody fact ; 
If ever grief, if ever woeful man 

Might move regret with sorrow of his fault, 
I think the torment of my mournful case, 
Known to your grace, as I do feel the same, 
Would force even Wrath herself to pity me. 
But as the water, troubled with the mud, 

51 lows not the face which else the eye should see ; 
Even so your ireful mind with stirred thought 



60 FEREEX AND PORREX. [act iv. 

Cannot so perfectly discern my cause. 

But this unhap, amongst so many haps, 

I must content me with, most wretched man, 

That to myself I must reserve my woe, 

In pining thoughts of mine accursed fact ; 

Since I may not show here my smallest grief, 

Such as it is, and as my breast endures, 

Which I esteem the greatest misery 

Of all mishaps that fortune now can send. 

Not that I rest in hope with plaint and tears 

To purchase life ; for to the gods I clepe 1 

For true record of this my faithful speech ; 

Never this heart shall have the thoughtful dread 

To die the death that by your grace's doom, 

By just desert, shall be pronounced to me : 

Nor never shall this tongue once spend the speech, 

Pardon to crave, or seek by suit to live. 

I mean not this as though I were not touch'd 

With care of dreadful death, or that I held 

Life in contempt : but that I know the mind 

Stoops to no dread, although the flesh be frail. 

And for my guilt, I yield the same so great 

As in myself I find a fear to sue 

For grant of life. 

1 Clepe— to call. 



sc. ii.] FERREX AND PORREX. 61 

Gov, In vain, O wretch, thou showest 

A woeful heart : Ferrex now lies in grave, 
Slain by thy hand. 

Por. Yet this, O father, hear ; 

And then I end. Your majesty well knows, 
That when my brother Ferrex and myself 
By your own hest were join'd in governance 
Of this your grace's realm of Britain land, 
I never sought nor travail'd for the same ; 
Nor by myself, nor by no friend I wrought, 
But from your highness' will alone it sprung, 
Of your most gracious goodness bent to me. 
But how my brother's heart even then repin'd 
With swollen disdain against mine equal rule, 
Seeing that realm, which by descent should grow 
Wholly to him, allotted half to me ; 
Even in your highness' court he now remains, 
And with my brother then in nearest place, 
Who can record what proof thereof was show'd, 
And how my brother's envious heart appear 'd. 
Yet I that judged it my part to seek 
His favour and good will, and loath to make 
Your highness know the thing which should have brought 
Grief to your grace, and your offence to him ; 



62 FER1ZEX AND POBREX. [act. iv. 

Hoping my earnest suit should soon have won 
A loving heart within a brother's breast, 
Wrought in that sort, that, for a pledge of love 
And faithful heart, he gave to me his hand. 
This made me think that he had banish'd quite 
All rancour from his thought, and bare to me 
Such hearty love as I did owe to him. 
But after once we left your grace's court, 
And from your highness' presence liv'd apart, 
This equal ride still, still did grudge him so, 
That now those envious sparks winch erst lay rak'd 
In living cinders of dissembling breast, 
Kindled so far within Ms heart disdain, 
That longer could he not refrain from proof 
Of secret practice to deprive me life 
By poison's force ; and had bereft me so, 
If mine own servant hired to this fact, 
And mov'd by truth with hate to work the same, 
In time had not bewray 'd it unto me. 
When thus I saw the knot of love unknit, 
All honest league and faithful promise broke, 
The law of kind and truth thus rent in twain, 
His heart on mischief set, and in his breast 
Black treason hid ; then, then did I despair 



sc. ii.] FERREX AND PORREX. 63 

That ever time could win him friend to me ; 
Then saw I how he smiled with slaying knife 
Wrapp'd under cloak, then saw I deep deceit 
Lurk in his face and death prepar'd for me : 
Even nature moved me then to hold my life 
More dear to me than his, and bade this hand, 
Since by his life my death must needs ensue, 
And by his death my life to be preserved, 
To shed his blood, and seek my safety so. 
And wisdom willed me without protract 
In speedy wise to put the same in ure. 
Thus have I told the cause that moved me 
To work my brother's death ; and so I yield 
My life, my death, to judgment of your grace. 

Gov. Oh cruel wight, should any cause prevail 
To make thee stain thy hands with brother's blood ? 
But what of thee we will resolve to do 
Shall yet remain unknown. Thou in the mean 
Shalt from our royal presence banish'd be, 
Until our princely pleasure further shall 
To thee be show'd. Depart therefore our sight, 
Accursed child ! [Exit Pourex.] What cruel destiny, 
What froward fate hath sorted us this chance, 
That even in those, where we should comfort find, 



64 FERREX AND PORREX. [act iv. 

Where our delight now in our aged days 
Should rest and be, even there our only grief 
And deepest sorrows to abridge our life, 
Most pining cares and deadly thoughts do grow. 

Aros. Your grace should now, in these grave years 
of yours, 
Have found ere this the price of mortal joys ; 
How short they be, how fading here in 'earth, 
How full of change, how brittle our estate, 
Of nothing sure, save only of the death, 
To whom both man and all the world doth owe 
Their end at last ; neither shall nature's power 
In other sort against your heart prevail, 
Than as the naked hand whose stroke assays 
The armed breast where force doth light in vain. 

Gov. Many can yield right sage and grave advice 
Of patient spirit to others wrapp'd in woe, 
And can in speech both ride and conquer kind ; 
Who, if by proof they might feel nature's force, 
"Would show themselves men as they are indeed, 
Which now will needs be gods. But what doth mean 
The sorry cheer of her that here doth come ? 



sc. ii.] FEBEEX AND POBREX. 65 

Enter Marcella. 

Mar. Oh where is ruth ? or where is pitj now ? 
Whither is gentle heart and mercy fled ? 
Are they exil'd out of our stony breasts, 
Never to make return ? is all the world 
Drowned in blood, and sunk in cruelty ? 
If not in women mercy may be found, 
If not, alas, within the mother's breast, 
To her own child, to her own flesh and blood ; 
If ruth be banish'd thence, if pity there 
May have no place, if there no gentle heart 
Do live and dwell, where should we seek it then ? 

Gor. Madam, alas, what means your woeful tale ? 

Mar. O silly woman I ! why to this hour 
Have kind and fortune thus deferr'd my breath, 
That I should live to see this doleful day ? 
Will ever wight believe that such hard heart 
Could rest within the cruel mother's breast, 
With her own hand to slay her only son ? 
But out, alas ! these eyes beheld the same : 
They saw the dreary sight, and are become 
Most ruthful records of the bloody fact. 
Porrex, alas, is by his mother slain, 

F 



6$ FERREX AND PORREX. [act iv. 

And with her hand, a woeful thing- to tell, 
While slumbering on his careful bed he rests, 
His heart stabb'd in with knife is reft of life. 

Gor. O Enbidus, oh draw this sword of ours, 
And pierce this heart with speed ! O hateful light, 
O loathsome life, O sweet and welcome death ! 
Dear Eiibidus, work this we thee beseech ! 

Eub. Patient your grace ; perhaps he liveth yet, 
With wound receiv'd, but not of certain death. 

Gor. O let us then repair unto the place, 
And see if Porrex live, or thus be slain. 

[Exeunt Goeboduc and Eubulus. 

Mar. Alas, he liveth not ! it is too true, 
That with these eyes, of him a peerless prince, 
Son to a king, and in the flower of youth, 
Even with a twink a senseless stock I saw. 

Aros. O damned deed ! 

Mar. But hear Ins ruthful end : 

The noble prince, pierc'd with the sudden wound, 
Out of his wretched slumber hastely start, 
Whose strength now failing straight he overthrew, 
When in the fall his eyes, ev'n new unclos'd, 
Beheld the queen, and cried to her for help. 
We then, alas, the ladies which that time 



sc. ii.] FEEBEX AND PORREX. 

Did there attend, seeing that heinous deed, 
And hearing him oft call the wretched name 
Of mother, and to cry to her for aid, 
Whose direful hand gave him the mortal wound, 
Pitying, alas, (for nought else could we do) 
His rutlrful end, ran to the woeful hed, 
Despoiled straight his breast, and all we might 
Wiped in vain with napkins next at hand, 
The sudden streams of blood that flushed fast 
Out of the gaping wound. O what a look, 
O what a ruthful steadfast eye methought 
He fix'd upon my face, which to my death 
Will never part from me, when with a braid 1 
A deep-fetch'd sigh he gave, and therewithal 
Clasping his hands, to heaven he cast his sight ; 
And straight pale death pressing within his face, 
The flying ghost his mortal corpse forsook. 

Aros. Never did age bring forth so vile a fact. 

Mar, hard and cruel hap, that thus assign' d 
Unto so worthy a wight so wretched end : 
But most hard cruel heart that could consent 
To lend the hateful destinies that hand, 
]jy which, alas, so heinous crime was wrought. 
1 A braid — a start. 



68 FERREX AND PORREX. [act it. 

O queen of adamant ! O marble breast ! 

If not the favour of bis comely face, 

If not bis princely cbeer and countenance, 

His valiant active arms, bis manly breast, 

If not bis fair and seemly personage, 

His noble limbs in such proportion cast 

As would have wrapt a silly woman's thought ; 

If this might not have mov'd thy bloody heart, 

And that most cruel hand the wretched weapon 

Ev'n to let fall, and kiss'd him in the face, 

With tears for ruth to reave such one by death ; 

Should nature yet consent to slay her son ? 

O mother, thou to murder thus thy child ! 

Even Jove with justice must with lightening flames 

Erom heaven send down some strange revenge on thee. 

Ah, noble prince, how oft have I beheld 

Thee mounted on thy fierce and trampling steed, 

Shining in armour bright before the tilt, 

And with thy mistress' sleeve tied on thy helm, 

And charge thy staff, to please thy lady's eye, 

That bow'd the head-piece of tliy friendly foe ! 

How oft in arms on horse to bend the mace, 

How oft in arms on foot to break the sword, 

Which never now these eyes may see again ! 



sc. ii.] FERREX AND PORREX. 69 

Aros. Madam, alas, in vain these plaints are shed ; 
Rather with me depart, and help to 'swage 
The thoughtful griefs that in the aged king 
Must needs by nature grow by death of this 
His only son, whom he did hold so dear. 

Mar. What wight is that which saw that I did see, 
And could refrain to wail with plaint and tears ? 
Not I, alas ! that heart is not in me : 
But let us go, for I am griev'd anew, 
To call to mind the wretched father's woe. [Exeunt. 

Chorus. 

When greedy lust in royal seat to reign 
Hath reft all care of gods and eke of men ; 

And cruel heart, wrath, treason, and disdain, 
Within ambitious breast are lodged, then 

Behold how mischief wide herself displays, 

And with the brother's hand the brother slays. 

When blood thus shed doth stain the heaven's face, 

( Irying to Jove for vengeance of tbe deed, 
The mighty god ev*ji moveth from his place, 

Willi wrath to wreak : then sends he forth with speed 



70 FERBEX AND PORREX. [act iv. 

The dreadful Furies, daughters of the night, 
With serpents girt, carrying the whip of ire, 

"With hair of stinging snakes, and shining bright 
With flames and blood, and with a brand of fire. 

These, for revenge of wretched murder done, 

Do make the mother kill her only son. 

Blood asketh blood, and death must death requite : 
Jove, by his just and everlasting doom, 

Justly hath ever so requited it. 

The times before record, and times to come 

Shall find it true, and so doth present proof 

Present before our eyes for our behoof. 

O happy wight, that suffers not the snare 
Of murderous mind to tangle him in blood ; 

And happy he, that can in time beware 
By other's harms, and turn it to his good. 

But woe to him that, fearing not to offend, 

Doth serve his lust, and will not see the end. 

END OF THE FOUItTH ACT. 



FERREX AND PORREX. 71 



THE ORDER AND SIGNIFICATION OF THE DUMB SHOW 
BEFORE THE FIFTH ACT. 

First, the drums and flutes began to sound, during 
which there came forth upon the stage a company of 
harquebussiers, and of armed men, all in order of 
battle. These, after their pieces discharged, and 
that the armed men had three times marched about 
the stage, departed, and then the drums and flutes 
did cease. Hereby ivas signified tumults, rebellions, 
arms, and civil wars to follow, as fell in the realm 
of Great Britain, which, by the space of fifty years 
and more, continued in civil war between the nobility 
after the death of Icing Gorboduc and of his issues, 
for want of certain limitation in the succession of the 
crown, till the time of Duniuallo Molmutius, who 
reduced the land to monarchy, 




72 FERREX AND PORREX. [act v. 



ACT V. Scene I. 

Clotyn. Mandud. Gwexard. Fergus. Eubulus. 

Clotijn. 
?ID ever age bring- forth such tyrant hearts? 
The brother hath bereft the brother's life, 
The mother, she hath dyed her cruel hands 
In blood of her own son ; and now at last 
The people, lo, forgetting truth and love, 
Contemning quite both law and loyal heart, 
Ev'n they have slain their sovereign lord and queen. 

Man, Shall this their traitorous crime unpunished rest? 
Ev'n yet they cease not, carried on with rage, 
In their rebellious routs, to threaten still 
A new bloodshed unto the prince's kin, 
To slay them all, and to uproot the race 
Both of the king and queen ; so are they movM 
With Porrex* death, wherein they falsely charge 
The guiltless king, without desert at all ; 
And traitorously have murder'd him therefore, 
And eke the queen. 

Gwen> Shall subjects dare with force 



sc. i.] FERREX AND PORREX. 

To work revenge upon their prince's fact ? 
Admit the worst that may, as sure in this 
The deed was foul, the queen to slay her son, 
Shall yet the subject seek to take the sword, 
Arise against his lord, and slay his king ? 

wretched state, where those rebellious hearts 
Are not rent out ev'n from their living breasts, 
And with the body thrown unto the fowls, 

As carrion food, for terrour of the rest. 

Ferg. There can no punishment be thought too 
great 
For this so grievous crime : let speed therefore 
Be used therein, for it behooveth so. 

Eub. Ye all, my lords, I see, consent in one, 
And I as one consent with ye in all. 

1 hold it more than need, with sharpest law 
To punish this tumultuous bloody rage. 

For nothing more may shake the common state, 
Than sufferance of uproars without redress ; 
Whereby how some kingdoms of mighty power, 
After great conquests made, and flourishing 
In fame and wealth, have been to ruin brought: 
I pray to Jove, that we may rather wail 
►Such hap in them than witness in ourselves. 



74 IMBREX AND POBREX. [act. t. 

Eke fully with the duke my mind agrees, 1 

Though kings forget to govern as they ought, 

Yet subjects must obey as they are hound. 

But now, my lords, before ye farther wade, 

Or spend your speech, what sharp revenge shall fall 

By justice' plague on these rebellious wights ; 

Methinks ye rather should first search the way, 

By which in time the rage of this uproar 

Might be repress'd, and these great tumults ceas'd. 

Even yet the life of Britain land doth hang 

1 The following lines are in the unauthorized edition of 
1565 :— 

" That no cause serves, whereby the subject may 
Call to account the doings of his prince, 
Much less in blood by sword to work revenge, 
No more than may the hand cut off the head ; 
In act nor speech, no not in secret thought 
The subject may rebel against his lord, 
Or judge of him that sits in Ccesar's seat, 
With grudging mind to damn those he mislikes." 

Warton, vol. in. p. 370, attributes the suppression of these 
lines to Thomas Norton. He says, " It is well known that 
the Calvinists carried their ideas of reformation and refine- 
ment into government as well as religion ; and it seems pro- 
bable, that these eight verses were suppressed by Thomas 
Norton, Sackville's supposed assistant in the play, who was 
not only an active and, I believe, a sensible Puritan, but a 
Hcencer of the publication of books under the commission of 
the Bishop of London.'' 



sc. i.] FEBREX AND PORREX. 75 

In traitors' balance of unequal weight. 
Think not, my lords, the death of Gorboduc, 
Nor yet VidencCs blood, will cease their rage : 
Ev'n our own lives, our wives, and children dear, 
Our country, dear'st of all, in danger stands, 
Now to be spoil'd, now, now made desolate, 
And by ourselves a conquest to ensue. 
For, give once sway unto the people's lusts, 
To rush forth on, and stay them not in time, 
And as the stream that rolleth down the hill, 
So will they headlong run with raging thoughts 
From blood to blood, from mischief unto more, 
To ruin of the realm, themselves, and all : 
So giddy are the common people's minds, 
So glad of change, more wavering than the sea. 
Ye see, my lords, what strength these rebels have, 
What hugy number is assembled still : 
For though the traitorous fact, for which they rose, 
]jo wrought and done, yet lodge they still in field ; 
So that, how far their furies yet will stretch, 
Great cause we have to dread. That we may seek 
By present battle to repress their power, 
Speed must we use to levy force therefore; 
For either they forthwith will mischief work, 



^6 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. v. 

Or their rebellious roars forthwith will cease. 
These violent things may have no lasting long. 
Let us, therefore, use this for present help ; 
Persuade by gentle speech, and offer grace 
With gift of pardon, save unto the chief; 
And that upon condition that forthwith 
They yield the captains of their enterprise, 
To bear such guerdon 1 of their traitorous fact 
As may be both due vengeance to themselves, 
And wholesome terrour to posterity. 
This shall, I think, scatter the greatest part 
That now are holclen with desire of home, 
Wearied in field with cold of winter's nights, 
And st)me, no doubt, stricken with dread of law. 
When this is once proclaimed, it shall make 
The captains to mistrust the multitude, 
Whose safety bids them to betray their heads ; 
And so much more, because the rascal routs, 
In things of great and perilous attempts, 
Are never trusty to the noble race. 
And while we treat, and stand on terms of grace, 
We shall both stay their furious rage the while, 
And eke gain time, whose only help sufficeth 
1 Guerdon — reward, recompense. 



sc. i.] FERREX AND PORREX. 77 

"Withoutcn war to vanquish rebels' power. 

In the mean while, make you in readiness 

Such band of horsemen as ye may prepare. 

Horsemen, you know, are not the commons' strength, 

But are the force and store of noble men ; 

Whereby the unchosen and unarmed sort 

Of skilless rebels, whom none other power 

But number makes to be of dreadful force, 

With sudden brunt may quickly be oppress'd. 

And if this gentle mean of proffer'd grace 

With stubborn hearts cannot so far avail, 

As to assuage their desp'rate courages ; 

Then do I wish such slaughter to be made, 

As present age, and eke posterity, 

May be adrad 1 with horrour of revenge 

That justly then shall on these rebels fall. 

This is, my lords, the sum of mine advice. 

Clot. Neither this case admits debate at large ; 
And though it did, this speech that hath been said, 
Hath well abridged the tale I would have told. 
Fully with Eubulus do I consent 
In all that he hath said : and if the same 
To you, my lords, may seem for best advice, 
1 Adrad — afraid. 



78 FERREX AND PORREX. [act v. 

I wish that it should straight be put in ure. 

Man. My lords, then let us presently depart, 
And follow this that liketh us so well. 

[Exeunt Clotyn, Maxdud, Gwenard, 
and Eubulus. 

Ferg. If ever time to gain a kingdom here 
Were offer'd man, now it is offer'd me. 
The realm is reft both of their king and queen, 
The offspring of the prince is slain and dead, 
No issue now remains, the heir unknown, 
The people are in arms and mutinies, 
The nobles, they are busied how to cease 
These great rebellious tumults and uproars ; 
And Britain land, now desert left alone 
Amid these broils uncertain where to rest, 
Offers herself unto that noble heart 
That will or dare pursue to bear her crown. 
Shall I, that am the Duke of Albany, 
Descended from that line of noble blood, 
Which hath so long flourish'd in worthy fame 
Of valiant hearts, such as in noble breasts 
Of right should rest above the baser sort, 
Refuse to venture life to win a crown ? 
Whom shall I find enemies that will withstand 



sc. i.] FERREX AND PORREX. 7i) 

My fact herein, if I attempt by arms 

To seek the same now in these times of broil ? 

These dukes' power can hardly well appease 

The people that already are in arms. 

But if, perhaps, my force be once in field, 

Is not my strength in power above the best 

Of all these lords now left in Britain land ? 

And though they should match me with power of men, 

Yet doubtful is the chance of battles joined. 

If victors of the field we may depart, 

Ours is the sceptre then of Great Britain ; 

If slain amid the plain this body lie, 

Mine enemies yet shall not deny me this, 

But that I died giving the noble charge 

To hazard life for conquest of a crown. 

Forthwith, therefore, will I in post depart 

To Albany, and raise in armour there 

All power I can : and here my secret friends, 

By secret practice shall solicit still, 

To seek to win to me the people's hearts. [Exit. 



80 FERBEX AND PORREX. [act y. 



ACT V. Scene II. 
Eubulus sohis. 
Eub. O Jove, how are these people's hearts abus'd ! 
What blind fury thus headlong carries them ? 
That though so many hooks, so many rolls 
Of ancient time, record what grievous plagues 
Light on these rebels aye, and though so oft 
Their ears have heard their aged fathers tell 
What just reward these traitors still receive ; 
Yea, though themselves have seen deep death and blood, 
By strangling cord, and slaughter of the sword, 
To such assign'd, yet can they not beware, 
Yet cannot stay their lewd rebellious hands ; 
But suffering, lo, foul treason to distain 
Their wretched minds, forget their loyal heart, 
Reject all truth, and rise against their prince. 
A ruthful case, that those, whom duty's bond, 
Whom grafted law, by nature, truth, and faith, 
Bound to preserve their country and their king, 
Born to defend their commonwealth and prince, 
Ev'n they should give consent thus to subvert 
Thee, Britain land, and from thy womb should spring, 



sc. n.] FEEREX AND POBREX. 81 

O native soil, those that will needs destroy 

And ruin thee, and eke themselves in fine. 

For lo, when once the dukes had offer'd grace 

Of pardon sweet, the multitude, misled 

By traitorous fraud of their ungracious heads, 

One sort that saw the dangerous success 

Of stubborn standing in rebellious war, 

And knew the difference of prince's power 

From headless number of tumultuous routs, 

Whom common country's care, and private fear 

Taught to repent the error of their rage, 

Laid hands upon the captains of their band, 

And brought them bound unto the mighty dukes : 

And other sort, not trusting yet so well 

The truth of pardon, or mistrusting more 

Their own offence than that they could conceive 

Such hope of pardon for so foul misdeed, 

Or for that they their captains could not yield, 

Who, fearing to be yielded, fled before, 

Stole home by silence of the secret night : 

The third unhappy and enraged sort 

Of desp'rate hearts, who, stain'd in princes' blood, 

From traitorous furour could not be withdrawn 

G 



82 FEREEX AND PORREX. [act v. 

By love, by law, by grace, ne yet by fear, 
By proffer'd life, ne yet by threaten'd death, 
With minds hopeless of life, dreadless of death, 
Careless of country, and aweless of God, 
Stood bent to fight, as furies did them move, 
With violent death to close their traitorous life. 
These all by power of horsemen were oppress'd, 
And with revenging sword slain in the field, 
Or with the strangling cord hang'd on the trees, 
Where yet their carrion carcases do preach 
The fruits that rebels reap of their uproars, 
And of the murder of their sacred prince. 
But lo, where do approach the noble dukes 
By whom these tumults have been thus appeas'd. 

Enter Clotyn, Mandud, Gwenabd, and Abostus. 

Clot. I think the world will now at length beware 
And fear to put on arms against then prince. 

Man. If not, those traitorous hearts that dare rebel, 
Let them behold the wide and hugy fields 
With blood and bodies spread of rebels slain ; 
The lofty trees cloth'd with the corpses dead, 
That, strangled with the cord, do hang thereon. 

Aros. A just reward ; such as all times before 



sc. ii.] FEREEX AND POBBEX. 83 

Have ever lotted to those wretched folks. 

Gwen. But what means he that cometh here so fast ? 

Enter Nuntius. 

Nun. My lords, as duty and my troth doth move, 
And of my country work a care in me, 
That, if the spending of my breath avail'd 
To do the service that my heart desires, 
I would not shun to embrace a present death ; 
So have I now, in that wherein I thought 
My travail might perform some good effect, 
Ventur'd my life to bring these tidings here. 
Fergus, the mighty duke of Albany, 
Is now in arms, and lodgeth in the field 
With twenty thousand men : hither he bends 
His speedy march, and minds to invade the crown. 
Daily he gathereth strength, and spreads abroad, 
That to this realm no certain heir remains, 
That Britain land is left without a guide, 
That he the sceptre seeks, for nothing else 
But to preserve the people and the land, 
Which now remain as ship without a stern. 
Lo, this is that which I have here to say. 

Clot. Is this his faith ? and shall he falsely thus 



84 FEBBEX AND POBBEX. [act v. 

Abuse the vantage of unhappy times ? 

wretched land, if his outrageous pride, 

His cruel and untemper'd wilfulness, 

His deep dissembling shows of false pretence, 

Should once attain the crown of Britain land ! 

Let us, my lords, with timely force resist 

The new attempt of this our common foe, 

As we would quench the flames of common fire. 

Man. Though we remain without a certain prince, 
To wield the realm, or guide the wand'ring rule, 
Yet now the common mother of us all, 
Our native land, our country, that contains 
Our wives, children, kindred, ourselves, and all 
That ever is or may be dear to man, 
Cries unto us to help ourselves and her. 
Let us advance our powers to repress 
This growing foe of all our liberties. 

Given. Yea, let us so, my lords, with hasty speed. 
And ye, O gods, send us the welcome death, 
To shed our blood in field, and leave us not 
In loathsome life to linger out our days, 
To see the hugy heaps of these onhaps, 
That now roll down upon the wretched land, 
Where empty place of princely governance, 



sc. ii.] FERREX AND PORREX. 85 

Xo certain stay now left of doubtless heir, 
Thus leave this guideless realm an open prey 
To endless storms and waste of civil war. 

Aros. That ye, my lords, do so agree in one, 
To save your country from the violent reign 
And wrongfully usurped tyranny 
Of him that threatens conquest of you all, 
To save your realm, and in this realm yourselves, 
From foreign thraldom of so proud a prince, 
Much do I praise ; and I beseech the gods, 
With happy honour to requite it you. 
But, O my lords, sith now the heaven's wrath 
Hath reft this land the issue of their prince ; 
Sith of the body of our late sovereign lord 
Remains no more, since the young kings be slain, 
And of the title of descended crown 
Uncertainly the divers minds do think 
Even of the learned sort, and more uncertainly 
Will partial fancy and affection deem ; 
But most uncertainly will climbing pride 
And hope of reign withdraw to sundry parts 
The doubtful right and hopeful Ulflt to reign. 
When once this noble service is achieved 
For Britain land, the mother of ye all, 



86 FEREEX AND POBREX. [act v. 

When once ye have with armed force repress'd 

The proud attempts of this Albanian prince, 

That threatens thraldom to jour native land, 

When ye shall vanquishers return from field, 

And find the princely state an open prey 

To greedy lust and to usurping power, 

Then, then, my lords, if ever kindly care 

Of antient honour of your ancestors, 

Of present wealth and nobless of your stocks, 

Yea of the lives and safety yet to come 

Of your dear wives, your children, and yourselves, 

Might move your noble hearts with gentle ruth, 

Then, then, have pity on the torn estate ; 

Then help to salve the well-near hopeless sore ; 

Which ye shall do, if ye yourselves withhold 

The slaying knife from your own mother's throat. 

Her shall you save, and you, and yours in her, 

If ye shall all with one assent forbear 

Once to lay hand or take unto yourselves 

The crown, by colour of pretended right, 

Or by what other means soe'er it be, 

Till first by common counsel of you all 

In parliament, the regal diadem 

Be set in certain place of governance ; 



sc. n.] FEBBEX AND POBBEX. 87 

In which your parliament, and in your choice, 
Prefer the right, my lords, without respect 
Of strength or friends, or whatsoever cause 
That may set forward any other's part. 
For right will last, and wrong cannot endure. 
Eight mean I his or hers, upon whose name 
The people rest by mean of native line, 
Or by the virtue of some former law, 
Already made their title to advance. 
Such one, my lords, let be your chosen king, 
Such one so born within your native land ; 
Such one prefer, and in no wise admit 
The heavy yoke of foreign governance : 
Let foreign titles yield to public wealth. 
And with that heart wherewith ye now prepare 
Thus to withstand the proud invading foe, 
With that same heart, my lords, keep out also 
Unnatural thraldom of stranger's reign ; 
Ne suffer you, against the rules of kind, 
Your mother land to serve a foreign prince. 

Eub. Lo, here the end of Brutus 1 royal line, 
And lo, the entry to the woeful wreck 
And utter ruin of this noble realm. 
The royal king and eke his sons are slain ; 



88 FERREX AND PORREX. [act. v. 

No ruler rests within the regal seat ; 

The heir, to whom the sceptre 'longs, unknown ; 

That to each force of foreign princes' power, 

Whom vantage of our wretched state may move 

By sudden arms to gain so rich a realm, 

x\nd to the proud and greedy mind at home, 

Whom blinded lust to reign leads to aspire, 

Lo, Britain realm is left an open prey, 

A present spoil by conquest to ensue. 

Who seeth not now how many rising minds 

Do feed their thoughts with hope to reach a realm ? - 

And who will not by force attempt to win 

So great a gain, that hope persuades to have ? 

A simple colour shall for title serve. 

Who wins the royal crown will want no right, 

Nor such as shall display by long descent 

A lineal race to prove him lawful king. 

In the meanwhile these civil arms shall rage, 

And thus a thousand mischiefs shall unfold, 

And far and near spread thee, O Britain land ; 

All right and law shall cease, and he that had 

Nothing to day, to morrow shall enjoy 

Great heaps of gold, and he that flow'd in wealth, 



sc. n.] FEEREX AND PORREX. 

Lo, he shall be bereft of life and all ; 
And happiest he that then possesseth least. 
The wives shall suffer rape, the maids deflour'd, 
And children fatherless shall weep and wail ; 
With fire and sword thy native folk shall perish, 
One kinsman shall bereave another's life, 
The father shall unwitting slay the son, 
The son shall slay the sire and know it not. 
Women and maids the cruel soldier's sword 
Shall pierce to death, and silly children lo, 
That playing 1 in the streets and fields are found, 
By violent hands shall close their latter day. 
Whom shall the fierce and bloody soldier 
Keserve to life ? whom shall he spare from death ? 
Ev'n thou, O wretched mother, half alive, 
Thou shalt behold thy dear and only child 
Slain with the sword while he yet sucks thy breast. 
Lo, guiltless blood shall thus each where be shed. 
Thus shall the wasted soil yield forth no fruit, 
But dearth and famine shall possess the land. 
The towns shall be consum'd and burnt with fire, 
The peopled cities shall wax desolate ; 
1 "Flay.— Edit. 1570. 



90 FERREX AND PORREX. [act v. 

And thou, O Britain, whilom in renown, 

Whilom in wealth and fame, shalt thus be torn, 

Dismember'd thus, and thus be rent in twain, 

Thus wasted and clefac'd, spoil'd and destroy'd. 

These be the fruits your civil wars will bring. 

Hereto it comes when kings will not consent 

To grave advice, but follow wilful will. 

This is the end, when in fond princes' hearts 

Flattery prevails, and sage rede hath no place : 

These are the plagues, when murder is the mean 

To make new heirs unto the royal crown. 

Thus wreak the gods, when that the mother's wrath 

Nought but the blood of her own child may swage ; 

These mischiefs spring when rebels will arise 

To work revenge and judge their prince's fact. 

This, this ensues, when noble men do fail 

In loyal truth, and subjects will be kings. 

And this doth grow, when lo, unto the prince, 

Whom death or sudden hap of life bereaves, 

No certain heir remains, such certain heir, 

As not all only is the rightful heir, 

But to the realm is so made known to be ; 

And troth thereby vested in subjects' hearts, 



sc. ii.] FERREX AND PORREX. 91 

To owe faith there where right is known to rest. 

Alas, in parliament what hope can be, 

When is of parliament no hope at all, 

Which, though it be assembled by consent, 

Yet is not likely with consent to end ; 

While each one for himself, or for his friend, 

Against his foe, shall travail what he may ; 

While now the state, left open to the man 

That shall with greatest force invade the same, 

Shall fill ambitious minds with gaping hope ; 

When will they once with yielding hearts agree ? 

Or in the while, how shall the realm be used ? 

No, no : then parliament should have been holden, 

And certain heirs appointed to the crown, 

To stay the title of established right, 

And in the people plant obedience, 

While yet the prince did live, whose name and power 

By lawful summons and authority 

Might make a parliament to be of force, 

And might have set the state in quiet stay. 

But now, O happy man, whom speedy death 

Deprives of life, ne is enforced to see 

These hugy mischiefs, and these miseries, 



92 FERREX AND PORREX. [act v. 

These civil wars, these murders, and these wrongs. 

Of justice, yet must God in fine restore 

This noble crown unto the lawful heir : 

For right will always live, and rise at length, 

But wrong can never take deep root to last. 



THE END OF THE TRAGEDY. 



THE LAST PARTE OF THE 

Mirour for Magiftrates, 

Wherein may be seen by Examples 

PASSED IN THIS ReALME, 

with how greuous plagues Vices are punifhed 

in great Princes and Magiftrates 

and how frayle and unftable worldly profperitie 

is found, where Fortune feemeth 

moll highly to favour. 

NEWLY CORRECTED AND AMENDED. 

Felix quern faciunt aliena pericula cautum. 



Imprinted at London by 

THOMAS MARSHE 

Anno 1574. 

Cum Privelegio. 




^HE Induction was written by Thomas Sack- 
ville, Lord Buckhurst, as a Preface or 
Introduction to a poem called the Mirror 
for Magistrates, of which the plan was formed by him 
about the year 1557. All the illustrious but unfortunate 
characters of English history, from the Conquest to the 
end of the fourteenth century, were intended to pass 
in review before the Poet, who descends like Dante into 
Hell. 

The object of the work, as stated in the title-page of 
the edition of 1574, was to show by examples " with 
how grievous plagues vices are punished in great Princes 
and Magistrates, and how frail and unstable worldly 
prosperity is found, where fortune seems most highly to 
favour." From want of leisure the original design of 
the work was, however, relinquished by Sackville, and 
left to others ; and the Induction was adapted by him at 



96 

the conclusion to the only part which he wrote, viz. 
the Legend of Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham, 
who was the chief supporter of Eichard III, hut after- 
wards conspiring against him was heheaded in the year 
1484. 

The first edition of the Mirror for Magistrates was 
published in 1559. Sackville's Induction and Legend 
did not appear till the work was edited afresh in the 
year 1563. This was followed by two more editions in 
1571 and 1574, the text of which latter rare and 
beautiful edition has been adopted with very few ex- 
ceptions. 





THE INDUCTION. 

JHE wrathful Winter, 'proaching on apace, 
"With blustering blasts had all ybar'd the 
treen, 

And old Saturnus, with his frosty face, 
With chilling cold had pierc'd the tender green ; 
The mantles rent, wherein enwrapped been 
The gladsome groves that now lay overthrown, 
The tapets 1 torn, and every bloom 2 down blown. 

The soil, that erst so seemly was to seen, 

Was all despoiled of her beauty's hue ; 

And soote 3 fresh flowers, wherewith the summer's queen 

Had clad the earth, now Boreas' blasts down blew ; 

And small fowls flocking, in their song did rue 
The winter's wrath, wherewith each thing defac'd 
In woeful wise bewail'd the summer past. 

1 Tapets — tapestry, used metaphorically for foliage, 

2 Tree. Edit. 1574. Copies of the same edition of 1563 
give variously tree and bloom, 3 Soote — sweet. 

H 



98 THE INDUCTION. 

Hawthorn had lost his motley livery, 
The naked twigs were shivering all for cold, 
And dropping down the tears abundantly ; 
Each thing, methought, with weeping eye me told 
The cruel season, bidding me withhold 
Myself within ; for I was gotten out 
Into the fields, whereas I walk'd about. 

When lo, the night with misty mantles spread, 
? Gan dark the day, and dim the azure skies ; 
And Venus in her message Hermes sped 
To bloody Mars, to will him not to rise, 
Which she herself approach'd in speedy wise ; 
And Virgo hiding her disdainful breast, 
With Thetis now had laid her down to rest. 

Whiles Scorpio dreading Sagittarius' dart, 
WTiose bow prest 1 bent in fight, the string had slipp'd, 
Down slid into the Ocean flood apart, 
The Bear, that in the Irish seas had dipp'd 
His grisly feet, with speed from thence he whipp'd : 
For Thetis, hasting from the Virgin's bed, 
Pursued the Bear, that ere she came was fled. 
1 Prest — ready. 



THE IND UCTION. 99 

And Phaeton now, near reaching to his race 
With glist'ring beams, gold streaming where they bent, 
Was prest to enter in his resting place : 
Erythius, that in the cart first went, 
Had even now attain'd his journey's stent :* 
And, fast declining, hid away his head, 
While Titan couch'd him in his purple bed. 

And pale Cynthea, with her borrow'd light, 
Beginning to supply her brother's place, 
Was past the noonstead six degrees in sight, 
When sparkling stars amid the heaven's face, 
With twinkling light shone on the earth apace, 
That, while they brought about the nightes chare, 
The dark had dimm'd the day ere I was ware. 

And sorrowing I to see the summer flowers, 
The lively green, the lusty leas forlorn, 
The sturdy trees so shatter'd with the showers, 
The fields so fade that flourish'd so beforn, 
It taught me well, all earthly things be born 

To die the death, for nought long time may last ; 

The summer's beauty yields to winter's blast. 
1 Stent —end. 



100 THE INDUCTION. 

Then looking upward to the heaven's leams, 
With nightes stars thick powder' d everywhere, 
Which erst so glisten' d with the golden streams 
That cheerful Phoebus spread down from his sphere, 
Beholding dark oppressing day so near : 
The sudden sight reduced to my mind, 
The sundry changes that in earth we find. 

That musing on this worldly wealth in thought, 
Which comes, and goes, more faster than we see 
The flickering flame that with the fire is wrought, 
My husy mind presented unto me 
Such fall of peers as in this realm had be ; 

That oft I wish'd some would their woes descrive, 
To warn the rest whom fortune left alive. 

And straight forth stalking with redoubled pace, 
For that I saw the night drew on so fast, 
In black all clad, there fell before my face 
A piteous wight, whom woe had all forcwaste ; 
Forth from her eyen the crystal tears out brast ; l 
And sighing sore, her hands she wrung and fold, 
Tare all her hair, that ruth was to behold. 
1 Brast — burst. 



THE INDUCTION. 101 

Her body small, forewither'd, and forespent, 

As is the stalk that summer's drought oppress'd ; 

Her welked face with woeful tears besprent ; 

Her colour pale ; and, as it seem'd her best, 

In woe and plaint reposed was her rest ; 

And, as the stone that drops of water wears, 
So dented were her cheeks with fall of tears. 

Her eyes swollen with flowing streams afloat ; 
Wherewith, her looks thrown up full piteously, 
Her forceless hands together oft she smote, 
With doleful shrieks, that echo'd in the sky ; 
Whose plaint such sighs did straight accompany, 
That, in my doom, was never man did see 
A wight but half so woebegone as she. 

I stood aghast, beholding all her plight, 
'Tween dread and dolour, so distrain'd in heart, 
That, while my hairs upstarted with the sight, 
The tears outstream'd for sorrow of her smart : 
But, when I saw no end that could apart 

The deadly dewle 1 which she so sore did make, 
With doleful voice then thus to her I spake : 
1 Dewle — lamentation. 



102 THE INDUCTION. 

Unwrap thy ivoes, whatever wight thou be, 
And stint 1 in time to spill thyself with plaint : 
Tell what thou art, and whence, for well I see 
Thou canst not dure, with sorrow thus attaint: 
And, with that word of sorrow, all forefaint 
She looked up, and, prostrate as she lay, 
With piteous sound, lo, thus she ' gan to say : 

Alas, I wretch, whom thus thou seest distrained 
With wasting woes, that never shall aslake, 
Sorrow I am, in endless torments pained 
Among the Furies in the infernal lake, 
Where Pluto, god of hell, so grisly black 
Both hold his throne, and Lethe's deadly taste 
Doth reave remembrance of each thing for epast : 

Whence come I am, the dreary destiny 

And luckless lot for to bemoan of those 

Wliom fortune, in this maze of misery, 

Of wretched chance, most woeful mirrors chose ; 

TJiat, when thou seest how lightly they did lose [sure, 
Their pomp, their power, and that they thought most 
Thou may st soon deem no earthly joy may dure. 
1 Stint — to limit or restrain. 



THE INDUCTION. 103 

Whose rueful voice no sooner had out bray'd 
Those woeful words wherewith she sorrow'd so, 
But out, alas, she shright, 1 and never stay'd, 
Fell down, and all-to 2 dash'd herself for woe : 
The cold pale dread my limbs 'gan overgo, 
And I so sorrow'd at her sorrows eft, 
That, what with grief and fear, my wits were reft. 

I stretch'd myself, and straight my heart revives, 
That dread and dolour erst did so appale ; 
Like him that with the fervent fever strives, 
When sickness seeks his castle health to scale ; 
With gather'd spirits so forc'd I fear to avale : 
And, rearing her, with anguish all foredone, 
My spirits return'd, and then I thus begun : 

Sorrow, alas, sith Sorrow is thy name, 
And that to thee this drear doth ivell pertain, 
In vain it were to seek to cease the same : 
But, as a man himself with sorrow slain, 
So I, alas, do comfort thee in pain, 

That here in sorrow art foresunk so deep, 
That at thy sight I can but sigh and weep. 
1 Shright — shrieked. 2 All-to — entirely. 



104 THE INDUCTION. 

I had no sooner spoken of a stike, 1 
But that the storm so rumbled in her breast, 
As JEolus could never roar the like ; 
And showers down rained from her eyen so fast, 
That all bedrent the place, till at the last, 
Well eased they the dolour of her mind, 
As rage of rain doth swage the stormy wind : 

For forth she paced in her fearful tale : 

Come, come, quoth she, and see ivhat I shall show. 

Come, hear the plaining and the bitter bale 

Of worthy men by Fortune overthrow : 

Come thou, and see them rueing all in row, 

They were but shades that erst in mind thou rolVd : 
Come, come with me, thine eyes shall them behold. 

What could these words but make me more aghast, 
To hear her tell whereon I mus'd whilere ? 
So was I maz'd therewith, till, at the last, 
Musing upon her words, and what they were, 
All suddenly well lesson'd was my fear ; 
For to my mind returned, how she tell'd 
Both what she was, and where her won 2 she held. 
1 Stike— or stich, a verse or stanza. 2 Won— dwelling. 



THE INDUCTION. 105 

Whereby I knew that she a goddess was, 
And, therewithal, resorted to my mind 
My thought, that late presented me the glass 
Of brittle state, of cares that here we find, 
Of thousand woes to silly men assign'd : 
And how she now bid me come and behold, 
To see with eye that erst in thought I roll'd, 

Flat down I fell, and with all reverence 

Adored her, perceiving now that she, 

A goddess, sent by godly providence, 

In earthly shape thus show'd herself to me, 

To wail and rue this world's uncertainty : 

And, while I honoured thus her godhead's might 
With plaining voice these words to me she shright. 

/ shall thee guide first to the grisly lake, 
And thence unto the blissful place of rest, 
Where thou shall see, and hear, the plaint they make 
That whilom here bare swing among the best : 
This shalt thou see : but great is the unrest 
That thou must bide, before thou canst attain 
Unto the dreadful place where these remain. 



106 THE INDUCTION. 

And, with these words, as I upraised stood, 
And 'gan to follow her that straight forth pac'd, 
Ere I was ware, into a desert wood 
We now were come, where, hand in hand embrac'd, 
She led the way, and through the thick so trac'd, 

As, but I had been guided by her might, 

It was no way for any mortal wight. 

But lo, while thus amid the desert dark 
We passed on with steps and pace unmeet, 
A rumbling roar, confus'd with howl and bark 
Of dogs, shook all the ground under our feet, 
And struck the din within our ears so deep, 

As, half distraught, unto the ground I fell, 

Besought return, and not to visit hell. 

But she, forthwith, uplifting me apace, 
Rernov'd my dread, and, with a steadfast mind, 
Bade me come on ; for here was now the place, 
The place where we our travail end should find : 
Wherewith I rose, and to the place assign'd 

Astoin'd I stalk, when straight we approached near 
The dreadful place, that you will dread to hear. 



THE INDUCTION. 107 

An hideous hole all vast, withouten shape, 
Of endless depth, o'erwhelmed with ragged stone, 
With ugly mouth, and grisly jaws doth gape, 
And to our sight confounds itself in one : 
Here enter'd we, and yeding 1 forth, anon 
An horrible loathly lake we might discern, 
As black as pitch, that cleped 2 is Avern. 

A deadly gulf; where nought but rubbish grows, 
With foul black swelth in thicken'd lumps that lies, 
Which up in th' air such stinking vapours throws, 
That over there may fly no fowl but dies 
Choak'd with the pestilent savours that arise : 
Hither we come ; whence forth we still did pace, 
In dreadful fear amid the dreadful place : 

And, first, within the porch and jaws of hell, 
Sat deep Remorse of Conscience, all besprent 
With tears ; and to herself oft would she tell 
Her wretchedness, and cursing never stent 
To sob and sigh ; but ever thus lament, 

With thoughtful care, as she that, all in vain, 
Would wear, and waste continually in pain. 
1 Yeding — going. 2 Cleped— called. 



108 THE INDUCTION. 

Her eyes unsteadfast, rolling here and there, 
Whirl'd on each place, as place that vengeance brought, 
So was her mind continually in fear, 
Toss'd and tormented with the tedious thought 
Of those detested crimes which she had wrought ; 
With dreadful cheer, and looks thrown to the sky, 
Wishing for death, and yet she could not die. 

Next saw we Dread, all trembling how he shook, 
With foot uncertain, proffer' d here and there : 
Benumm'd of speech, and, with a ghastly look, 
Search'd every place, all pale and dead for fear, 
His cap born up with staring of his hair, 

'Stoin'd and amaz'd at his own shade for dread, 
And fearing greater dangers than was need. 

And next, within the entry of this lake, 
Sat fell Revenge, gnashing her teeth for ire, 
Devising means how she may vengeance take, 
Never in rest, till she have her desire : 
But frets within so far forth with the fire 

Of wreaking flames, that now determines she 
To die by death, or veng'd by death to be. 



THE INDUCTION. 109 

When fell Revenge, with Moody foul pretence 
Had show'd herself, as next in order set, 
With trembling limbs we softly parted thence, 
Till in our eyes another sight we met : 
When from my heart a sigh forthwith I fet, 1 
Rueing, alas ! upon the woeful plight 
Of Misery, that next appear'd in sight. 

His face was lean, and somedeal pin'd away, 
And eke his hands consumed to the bone, 
But what his body was, I cannot say, 
For on his carcass raiment had he none, 
Save clouts and patches, pieced one by one ; 
With staff in hand, and scrip on shoulders cast, 
His chief defence against the winter's blast. 

His food, for most, was wild fruits of the tree, 
Unless sometimes some crumbs fell to his share, 
Which in his wallet long, God wot, kept he, 
As on the which full daint'ly would he fare : 
His drink, the running stream ; his cup, the bare 

Of his palm clos'd ; his bed, the hard cold ground : 

To this poor life was Misery ybound. 
1 Fet— fetched. 



110 THE INDUCTION. 

Whose wretched state when we had well beheld, 
With tender ruth on him, and on his fears, 
In thoughtful cares forth then our pace we held ; 
And, by and by, another shape appears, 
Of greedy Care, still brushing up the breres, 
His knuckles knobb'd, his flesh deep dented in, 
With tawed hands, and hard ytanned skin. 

The morrow gray no sooner hath begun 
To spread his light, even peeping in our eyes, 
When he is up, and to his work yrun : 
But let the night's black misty mantles rise, 
And with foul dark never so much disguise 
The fair bright day, yet ceaseth he no while. 
But hath his candles to prolong his toil. 

By him lay heavy Sleep, the cousin of Death. 
Flat on the ground, and still as any stone, 
A very corpse, save yielding forth a breath : 
Small keep took he, whom Fortune frowned on, 
Or whom she lifted up into the throne 
Of high renown ; but, as a living death, 
So, dead alive, of life he drew the breath. 



THE INDUCTION. Ill 

The body's rest, the quiet of the heart, 
The travail's ease, the still night's fear was he, 
And of our life in earth the better part ; 
Reaver of sight, and yet in whom we see 
Things oft that tide, and oft that never be ; 
Without respect, esteeming equally 
King Croesus' pomp, and Irui poverty. 

And next, in order sad, Old Age we found : 
His beard all hoar, his eyes hollow and blind, 
With drooping cheer still poring on the ground, 
As on the place where Nature him assign'd 
To rest, when that the sisters had untwin'd 
His vital thread, and ended with their knife 
The fleeting course of fast declining life. 

There heard we him with broke and hollow plaint 
Rue with himself his end approaching fast, 
And all for nought his wretched mind torment 
With sweet remembrance of his pleasures past, 
And fresh delights of lusty youth forewaste ; 

Recounting which, how would he sob and shriek, 
And to be young again of Jove beseek ? 



112 THE INDUCTION. 

But, and the cruel fates so fixed be, 
That time forepast cannot return again, 
This one request of Jove jet prayed he : 
That, in such withered plight, and wretched pain, 
As eld, accompanied with his loathsome train, 
Had brought on him, all were it woe and grief, 
He might a while yet linger forth his life, 

And not so soon descend into the pit, 
Where Death, when he the mortal corpse hath slain, 
With reckless hand in grave doth cover it ; 
Thereafter never to enjoy again 
The gladsome light, but in the ground ylain, 
In depth of darkness waste and wear to nought, 
As he had never into the world been brought. 

But who had seen him sobbing, how he stood 
Unto himself, and how he would bemoan 
His youth forepast, as though it wrought him good 
To talk of youth, all were his youth foregone, 
He would have mus'd, and marvell'd much, whereon 
This wretched Age should life desire so fain, 
And knows full well life doth but length his pain. 



THE IND UCTION. 1 13 

Crookback'd he was, tooth- shaken, and blear-eyed, 
Went on three feet, and sometime crept on four, 
With old lame bones that rattled by his side, 
His scalp all pilPd, and he with eld forlore : 
His withered fist still knocking at Death 's door, 

Fumbling, and drivelling, as he draws his breath ; 

For brief, the shape and messenger of Death, 

And fast by him pale Malady was plac'd, 
Sore sick in bed, her colour all foregone, 
Bereft of stomach, savour, and of taste, 
Ne could she brook no meat, but broths alone : 
Her breath corrupt, her keepers every one 
Abhorring her, her sickness past recure, 
Detesting physick, and all physick's cure. 

But, oh, the doleful sight that then we see ! 
We turn'd our look, and, on the other side, 
A grisly shape of Famine might we see, 
With greedy looks, and gaping mouth, that cried 
And roar'd for meat, as she should there have died ; 
Her body thin, and bare as any bone, 
Whereto was left nought but the case alone, 
i 



114 THE INDUCTION. 

And that, alas, was gnawn on every where, 
All full of holes, that I ne might refrain 
From tears, to see how she her arms could tear, 
And with her teeth gnash on the hones in vain, 
When, all for nought, she fain would so sustain 
Her starven corpse, that rather seem'd a shade, 
Than any substance of a creature made. 

Great was her force, whom stone wall could not stay, 
Her tearing nails snatching at all she saw ; 
With gaping jaws, that by no means ymay 
Be satisfied from hunger of her maw, 
But eats herself as she that hath no law : 
Gnawing, alas, her carcass all in vain, 
Where you may count each sinew, bone, and vein. 

On her while we thus firmly fix'd our eyes, 
That bled for ruth of such a dreary sight, 
Lo, suddenly she shriek'd in so huge wise, 
As made hell gates to shiver with the might : 
Wherewith, a dart we saw, how it did light 

Eight on her breast, and, therewithal, pale Death 
Enthrilling it, to reave her of her breath. 



THE INDUCTION. 115 

And, by and by, a dumb dead corpse we saw, 
Heavy, and cold, the shape of Death aright, 
That daunts all earthly creatures to his law ; 
Against whose force in vain it is to fight : 
Ne peers, ne princes, nor no mortal wight, 

No towns, ne realms, cities, ne strongest tower, 
But all, perforce, must yield unto his power. 

His dart, anon, out of the corpse he took, 
And in his hand (a dreadful sight to see) 
With great triumph eftsoons the same he shook, 
That most of all my fears affrayed me : 
His body dight with nought but bones, parde, 
The naked shape of man there saw I plain, 
All save the flesh, the sinew, and the vein. 

Lastly, stood War, in glittering arms yclad, 
With visage grim, stern looks, and blackly hued ; 
In his right hand a naked sword he had, 
That to the hilts was all with blood imbrued ; 
And in his left (that kings and kingdoms rued) 
Famine and fire he held, and therewithal 
He razed towns, and threw down towers and all. 



1 1 6 THE IND UCTION. 

Cities he sack'd, and realms (that whilom flower'd 
In honour, glory, and rule, ahove the hest) 
He overwhelmed, and all their fame devour'd, 
Consum'd, destroy'd, wasted and never ceas'd, 
Till he their wealth, their name, and all oppress'd : 
His face forehew'd with wounds, and by his side 
There hung his targe, with gashes deep and wide. 

In mids of which, depainted there, we found 
Deadly Debate, all full of snaky hair, 
That with a bloody fillet was ybound, 
Out breathing nought but discord every where : 
And round about were portray 'd, here and there, 
The hugy hosts, Darius and Ins power, 
His kings, princes, his peers, and all his flower. 

Whom great Macedo vanquish'd there in sight, 
With deep slaughter, despoiling all his pride, 
Picrc'd through his realms, and daunted all his might : 
Duke Hannibal beheld I there beside, 
In Cannes field, victor how he did ride, 
And woeful Eomans that in vain withstood, 
And consul Paulus covered all in blood. 



THE IND UGTION. 117 

Yet saw I more the fight at Thrasimene, 
And Treby field, and eke when Hannibal 
And worthy Scipio last in arms were seen 
Before Carthago gate, to try for all 
The world's empire, to whom it should befall : 
There saw I Pompey and Ccesar clad in arms, 
Their hosts allied and all their civil harms : 

With conquerors' hands, forebath'd in their own blood, 
And Ccesar weeping over Pompey' s head ; 
Yet saw I Sylla and Marius where they stood, 
Their great cruelty, and the deep bloodshed 
Of friends : Cyrus I saw and his host dead, 

And how the queen with great despite hath flung 
His head in blood of them she overcome. 

Xerxes, the Persian king, yet saw I there, 
With his huge host, that drank the rivers dry, 
Dismounted hills, and made the vales uprear, 
His host and all yet saw I slain, parde : 
Thebes I saw, all raz'd how it did lie 

In heaps of stones, and Tyrus put to spoil, 
With walls and towers flat even'd with the soil. 



118 THE INDUCTION. 

But Troy, alas, methought, above them all, 
It made mine eyes in very tears consume : 
When I beheld the woeful word befall, 
That by the wrathful will of gods was eome ; 
And Jove's unmoved sentence and foredoom 
On Priam king, and on his town so bent, 
I could not lin, 1 but I must there lament. 

And that the more, sith destiny was so stern 
As, force perforce, there might no force avail, 
But she must fall : and, by her fall, we learn, 
That cities, towers, wealth, world, and all shall quail : 
No manhood, might, nor nothing might prevail ; 
All were there prest full many a prince, and peer, 
And many a knight that sold his death full dear. 

Not worthy Hector, worthiest of them all, 
Her hope, her joy, his force is now for nought : 
O Troy, Troy, Troy, 9, there is no boot but bale, 
The hugy horse within thy walls is brought ; 
Thy turrets fall, thy knights, that whilom fought 
In arms amid the field, are slain in bed, 
Thy gods defil'd, and all thy honour dead. 

1 Lin — to cease. 

2 Troy is repeated only twice in the edit. 1574. 



THE INDUCTION. 119 

The flames up spring, and cruelly they creep 
From wall to roof, till all to cinders waste : 
Some fire the houses where the wretches sleep, 
Some rush in here, some run in there as fast ; 
In every where or sword, or fire, they taste : 

The walls are torn, the towers whirl'd to the ground ; 

There is no mischief, but may there he found. 

Cassandra yet there saw I how they hal'd 
From Pallas' house, with spercPd tress undone, 
Her wrists fast bound, and with Greeks' rout empal'd : 
And Priam eke, in vain how he did run 
To arms, whom Pyrrhus with despite hath done 
To cruel death, and bath'd him in the baign 
Of his son's blood, before the altar slain. 

But how can I describe the doleful sight, 
That in the shield so livelike fair did shine ? 
Sith in this world, I think was never wight 
Could have set forth the half, not half so fine : 
I can no more, but tell how there is seen 
Fair Ilium fall in burning red gledes down, 
And, from the soil, great Troy, Neptunus' town. 
1 Spercled— scattered. 



120 THE INDUCTION. 

Herefrom when scarce I could mine eyes withdraw, 
That fill'd with tears as doth the springing well, 
We passed on so far forth till we saw 
Rude Acheron, a loathsome lake to tell, 
That boils and bubs up swelth as black as hell ; 
Where grisly Charon, at their fixed tide, 
Still ferries ghosts unto the farther side. 

The aged god no sooner Sorrow spied, 
But, hasting straight unto the bank apace, 
With hollow call unto the rout he cried, 
To swerve apart, and give the goddess place : 
Straight it was done, when to the shore we pace, 
Where, hand in hand as we then linked fast, 
Within the boat we are together plac'd. 

And forth we launch full fraughted to the brink : 
When, with the unwonted weight, the rusty keel 
Bejran to crack as if the same should sink : 
We hoise up mast and sail, that in a while 
We fetch'd the shore, where scarcely we had while 
For to arrive, but that we heard anon 
A three sound bark confounded all in one. 



THE INDUCTION. 121 

We had not long forth pass'd, but that we saw 
Black Cerberus, the hideous hound of hell, 
With bristles rear'd, and with a three mouth'd jaw 
Foredinning the air with his horrible yell, 
Out of the deep dark cave where he did dwell : 
The goddess straight he knew, and by and by, 
He peas'd and couch'd, while that we passed by. 

Thence come we to the horrour and the hell, 
The large great kingdoms, and the dreadful reign 
Of Pluto in his throne where he did dwell, 
The wide waste places, and the hugy plain, 
The wailings, shrieks, and sundry sorts of pain, 

The sighs, the sobs, the deep and deadly groan ; 

Earth, air, and all, resounding plaint and moan. 

Here puFd 1 the babes, and here the maids unwed 
With folded hands their sorry chance bewail'd, 
Here wept the guiltless slain, and lovers dead, 
That slew themselves when nothing else avail'd ; 
A thousand sorts of sorrows here, that waiPd 

With sighs, and tears, sobs, shrieks, and all yfear, 

That, oh, alas, it was a hell to hear. 

1 Pule — to whine. Pewed, edit. 1574. 



122 THE INDUCTION. 

We staid us straight, and with a rueful fear, 
Beheld this heavy sight ; while from mine eyes 
The vapour'd tears down stilled here and there, 
And Sorrow eke, in far more woeful wise, 
Took on with plaint, upheaving to the skies 

Her wretched hands, that, with her cry, the rout 
'Gan all in heaps to swarm us round about. 

Lo here, quoth Sorrow, p rimes of renown, 
That whilom sat on top of fortune's wheel, 
Now laid full low ; Wee wretches whirled down, 
Ev'n with one frown, that staijd but with a smile: 
And now behold the thing that thou, erewhile, 

Saw only in thought; and, what thou now shalthear, 
Recount the same to Jcesar, king, and peer. 

Then first came Henry duke of Buckingham, 
His cloak of black all pill'd, and quite foreworn, 
Wringing his hands, and fortune oft doth blame, 
Which of a duke hath made him now her scorn : 
With ghastly looks, as one in manner lorn, 

Oft spread his arms, stretch'd hands he joins as fast 
With rueful cheer, and vapour'd eyes upcast. 



THE INDUCTION. 123 

His cloak he rent, his manly hreast he beat, 

His hair all torn, about the place it lay ; 

My heart so molt to see his grief so great, 

As feelingly methought, it clropt away : 

His eyes they whirl' d about withouten stay, 
With stormy sighs the place did so complain, 
As if his heart at each had burst in twain. 

Thrice he began to tell his doleful tale, 
And thrice the sighs did swallow up his voice, 
At each of which he shrieked so withal, 
As though the heavens rived with the noise : 
Till at the last, recovering his voice, 

Supping the tears that all his breast berain'd, 
On cruel fortune, weeping, thus he plain'd. 




THE COMPLAINT OF HENRY DUKE OF 
BUCKINGHAM. 

^HO trusts too much to honour's highest throne, 
And warely watch not sly dame Fortune's 
snares : 

Or who in court will bear the sway alone, 
And wisely weigh not how to wield the care, 
Behold he me, and by my death beware : 
Whom flattering fortune falsely so beguil'd, 
That, lo, she slew, where erst full smooth she smil'd. 

And, Sackville, sith in purpose now thou hast 
The woeful fall of princes to descrive, 
Whom fortune both uplift, and eke 1 down cast, 
To show thereby the unsurety in this life, 
Mark well my fall, which I shall show belive, 2 
And paint it forth, that all estates may know : 
Have they the warning, and be mine the woe. 
1 'Gain, edit. 1563. 2 Belive— speedily, quickly. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 125 

For noble blood made me both prince and peer, 
Yea peerless too, had reason purchas'd place, 
And God with gifts endow'd me largely here : 
But what avails his gifts where fails his grace ? 
My mother's sire sprung of a kingly race, 

And call'd was Edmund duke of Somerset, 

Bereft of life ere time by nature set. 

Whose faithful heart to Henry sixth so wrought, 
That ne'er he him in weal, or woe, forsook, 
Till lastly he at Tewksbury field was caught, 
Where with an axe his violent death he took : 
He never could king Edward's party brook, 
Till by his death he vouch' d that quarrel good, 
In which his sire and grandsire spilt their blood. 

And such was erst my father's cruel chance, 
Of Stafford earl, by name that Humfrey hight, 1 
WTio ever prest 2 did Henry's part avaunce, 
And never ceas'd, till at St. Albans' fight 
He lost his life, as then did many a knight : 
Where eke my grandsire, duke of Buckingham, 
Was wounded sore, and hardly scaped unta'en. 
1 Hight — called, named. 2 Prest — ready. 



1 26 HENRY STAFFORD 

But what may boot to stay the sisters three, 
When Atropos perforce will cut the thread ? 
The doleful day was come, when you might see 
Northampton field with armed men o'erspread, 
Where fate would algates x have my grandsire dead : 
So, rushing forth amidst the fiercest fight, 
He lived and died there in his master's right. 

In place of whom, as it befcl my lot, 
Like on a stage, so stepp'd I in straightway, 
Enjoying there, but wofully, God wot, 
As he that had a slender part to play : 
To teach thereby, in earth no state may stay, 
But as our parts abridge, or length our age, 
So pass we all, while others fill the stage. 

For of myself the dreary fate to plain, 
I was sometimes a prince withouten peer, 
When Edward fifth began his rueful reign, 
Ah me, then I began that hateful year 
To compass that which I have bought so dear : 
I bear the swing, I and that wretched wight 
The duke of Glocester, that Eichard bight. 
1 Algates — on any terms, nevertheless. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 127 

For when the fates had reft that royal prince 
Edward the fourth, chief mirror of that name, 
The duke and I fast joined ever since 
In faithful love, our secret drifts to frame, 
What he thought best, to me so seem'd the same, 

Myself not bent so much for to aspire, 

As to fulfil that greedy duke's desire ; 

Whose restless mind, sore thirsting after rule, 
When that he saw his nephews both to ben 
Through tender years as yet unfit to rule, 
And rather ruled by their mother's kin, 
There sought he first his mischief to begin, 

To pluck from them their mother's friends assigned, 
For well he wist they would withstand his mind. 

To follow which he ran so headlong swift, 
With eager thirst of his desired draught, 
To seek their deaths that sought to dash his drift, 
Of whom the chief the queen's allies he thought, 
That bent thereto with mounts of mischief fraught, 
He knew their lives would be so sore his let, 
That in their deaths his only help he set. 



128 HENRY STAFFORD 

And I, most cursed caitif that I was, 
Seeing the state unsteadfast how it stood, 
His chief complice to bring the same to pass, 
Unhappy wretch, consented to their blood : 
Ye kings and peers that swim in worldly good, 
In seeking blood the end advert you plain, 
And see if blood aye ask not blood again. 

Consider Cyrus in your cruel thought, 

A makeless prince in riches, and in might, 

And weigh in mind the bloody deeds he wrought. 

In shedding which he set his whole delight : 

But see the guerdon lotted to this wight, 

He, whose huge power no man might overthrow, 
Tomyris queen with great despite hath slow. 

His head dismember' d from his mangled corpse, 
Herself she cast into a vessel fraught 
"With clotter'd blood of them that felt her force. 
And with these words a just reward she taught : 
" Drink now thy fill of thy desired draught:" 
Lo, mark the fine that did this prince befall : 
Mark not this one, but mark the end of all. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 129 

Behold Cambyses, and his fatal day, 
Where murder's mischief, mirror like, is left, 
While he his brother Smerdis cast to slay, 
A dreadful thing, his wits were him bereft : 
A sword he caught, wherewith he pierced eft 1 
His body gor'd, which he of life benooms : 2 
So just is God in all his dreadful dooms. 

O bloody Brutus, rightly didst thou rue, 
And thou, O Cassius, justly came thy fall, 
That with the sword, wherewith thou Caesar slew, 
Murderedst thyself, and reft thy life withal : 
A mirror let him be unto you all 

That murderers be, of murder to your meed : 
For murder crieth out vengeance on your seed. 

Lo Bessus, he that arm'd with murderer's knife, 
And traitorous heart against his royal king, 
With bloody hands bereft his master's life, 
Advert the fine his foul oifence did bring ; 
And loathing murder as most loathly thing, 
Behold in him the just deserved fall 
That ever hath, and shall betide them all. 
1 Eft — soon, quickly. 2 Benoom — to take away. 

K 



130 HENRY STAFFORD 

What booted him his false usurped reign, 
Whereto by murder he did so ascend ? 
When, like a wretch led in an iron chain, 
He was presented, by his chiefest friend, 
Unto the foes of him whom he had slain : 
That even they should venge so foul a guilt, 
That rather sought to have his blood yspilt. 

Take heed ye princes and ye prelates all 
Of this outrage, which though it sleep awhile 
And not disclosed, as it doth seld 1 befall, 
Yet God, that suffereth silence to beguile 
Such guilts, wherewith both earth and air ye file, 
At last descries them to your foul deface, 
You see the examples set before your face. 

And deeply grave within your stony hearts, 
The dreary dole that mighty Macedo, 
With tears unfolded, wrapp'd in deadly smarts, 
When he the death of Clitus sorrowed so, 
Whom erst he murder'd with the deadly blow 
Eaught 2 in his rage upon his friend so dear, 
For which behold, lo, how his pangs appear. 
I Se^-seldom. 2 /toupfa-reached. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 131 

The lanced spear he writhes out of the wound, 
From which the purple blood spins on his face : 
His heinous guilt when he returned found, 
He throws himself upon the corpse, alas ! 
And in his arms how oft doth he embrace 

His murder'd friend ! and kissing him, in vain 
Forth flow the floods of salt repentant rain. 

His friends amaz'd at such a murder done, 

In fearful flocks begin to shrink away, 

And he thereat, with heaps of grief foredone, 

Hateth himself, wishing his latter day : 

Now he likewise perceived in like stay, 
As is the wild beast in the desert bred, 
Both dreading others and himself a dread. 

He calls for death, and loathing longer life, 
Bent to his bane, refuseth kindly food : 
And plung'd in depth of death and dolour's strife, 
Had quelPd himself, had not his friends withstood : 
Lo, he that thus hath shed the guiltless blood, 
Though he were king and kesar over all, 
Yet chose he death to guerdon death withal. 



132 HENRY STAFFORD 

This prince whose peer was never under sun, 
Whose glistening fame the earth did overglide, 
Which with his power wellnigh the world had won, 
His bloody hands himself could not abide, 
But fully bent with famine to have died, 
The worthy prince deemed in Ins regard, 
That death for death could be but just reward. 

Yet we, that were so drowned in the depth 
Of deep desire, to drink the guiltless blood, 
Like to the wolf, with greedy looks that leapeth 
Into the snare, to feed on deadly food, 
So we delighted in the state we stood, 
Blinded so far in all our blinded train, 
That blind we saw not our destruction plain. 

We spared none whose life could ought forelet 
Our wicked purpose to his pass to come : 
Four worthy knights we headed at Pomfret 
Guiltless, God wot, withouten law or doom : 
My heart even bleeds to tell you all and some, 
And how lord Hastings, when he feared least, 
Despiteously was murder'd and oppress'd. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 133 

These rocks upraught, that threaten' d most our wreck, 
We seem'd to sail much surer in the stream : 
And fortune faring as she were at heck 
Laid in our lap the rule of all the realm : 
The nephews straight depos'd were by the eame : x 
And we advanc'd to that we bought full dear, 
He crowned king, and I his chiefest peer. 

Thus having won our long-desired pray, 
To make him king that he might make me chief, 
Down throw we straight his seely 2 nephews tway, 
From princes' pomp, to woeful prisoners' life : 
In hope that now stint 3 was all further strife : 
Sith he was king, and I chief stroke did bear, 
Who joyed but we, yet who more cause to fear ? 

The guiltless blood which we unjustly shed, 

The royal babes divested from their throne, 

And we like traitors reigning in their stead, 

These heavy burdens pressed 4 us upon, 

Tormenting us so by ourselves alone, 

Much like the felon that, pursued by night, 

Starts at each bush, as his foe were in sight. 

1 Eame — uncle. 2 Seely — simple, harmless. 

3 Stint— to limit or restrain. 4 Passed — Edit. 1574. 



1 34 HENRY STAFFORD 

Now doubting state, now dreading loss of life, 
In fear of wreck at every blast of wind, 
Now start in dreams through dread of murderer's knife, 
As though e'en then revengement were assign'd : 
With restless thought so is the guilty mind 
Turmoil'd, and never feeleth ease or stay, 
But lives in fear of that which follows aye. 

Well gave that judge his doom upon the death 
Of Titus Cselius that in bed were slain : 
When every wight the cruel murder layeth 
To his two sons that in his chamber lain, 
The judge, that by the proof perceiveth plain, 
That they were found fast sleeping in their bed, 
Hath deem'd them guiltless of this blood yshed. 

He thought it could not be, that they which break 
The laws of God and man in such outrage, 
Could so forthwith themselves to sleep betake : 
He rather thought, the horror and the rage 
Of such an heinous guilt, could never swage, 
Nor never suffer them to sleep, or rest, 
Or dreadless breathe one breath out of their breast. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 135 

So gnaws the grief of conscience evermore, 
And in the heart it is so deep ygrave, 
That they may neither sleep nor rest therefore, 
Ne think one thought but on the dread they have : 
Still to the death foretossed with the wave 

Of restless woe, in terror and despair, 

They lead a life continually in fear. 

Like to the deer that stricken with the dart, 
Withdraws himself into some secret place, 
And feeling green the wound about his heart, 
Startles with pangs till he fall on the grass, 
And, in great fear, lies gasping there a space, 

Forth braying sighs as though each pang had brought 
The present death, which he doth dread so oft. 

So we, deep wounded with the bloody thought, 
And gnawing worm that griev'd our conscience so, 
Never took ease, but as our heart out 1 brought 
The strained 2 sighs in witness of our woe, 
Such restless cares our fault did well beknow : 
Wherewith, of our deserved fall, the fears 
In every place rang death within our ears. 
1 Forth— Edit. 1563. 2 Stained— 'Edit. 1574. 



136 HENRY STAFFORD 

And as ill grain is never well ykept, 
So fared it by us within a while : 
That which so long with such unrest we reapt, 
In dread and danger by all wit and wile, 
Lo, see the fine, when once it felt the wheel 
Of slippery fortune, stay it might no stoun, 1 
The wheel whirls up, but straight it whirleth down. 

For having rule and riches in our hand, 
Who durst gainsay the thing that we averr'd ? 
Will was wisdom, our lust for law did stand, 
In sort so strange, that who was not afeard, 
When he the sound but of king Richard heard ? 
So hateful wax'd the hearing of his name, 
That you may deem the residue by the same. 

But what avail'd the terrour and the fear, 
Wherewith he kept his lieges under awe ? 
It rather won him hatred every where, 
And feigned faces forc'd by fear of law : 
That but, while fortune doth with favour blow, 

Flatter through fear : for in their heart lurks aye 

A secret hate that hopeth for a day. 
1 Stoun — occasion, time. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 137 

Recordeth Dionysius, the king, 
That with his rigour so his realm oppressed, 
As that he thought by cruel fear to hring 
His subjects under, as him liked best : 
But, lo, the dread wherewith himself was stress'd, 
And you shall see the fine of forced fear, 
Most mirror like, in this proud prince appear. 

All were his head with crown of gold yspread, 

And in his hand the royal sceptre set, 

And he with princely purple richly clad, 

Yet was his heart with wretched cares o'erfret ; 

And inwardly with deadly fear beset, 

Of those whom he by rigour kept in awe, 
And sore oppressed with might of tyrant's law. 

Against whose fear no heaps of gold and gly, 
No strength of guard, nor all his hired power, 
Ne proud high towers, that preaced x to the sky, 
His cruel heart of safety could assure : 
But dreading them whom he should deem most sure, 
Himself his beard with burning brand would sear, 
Of death deserv'd so vexed him the fear. 
1 Preaced — crowded. 



138 HENRY STAFFORD 

This might suffice to represent the fine 
Of tyrant's force, their fears, and their unrest : 
But hear this one, although my heart repine 
To let the sound once sink within my breast, 
Of fell Pheraeus, that, above the rest, 

Such loathsome cruelty on his people wrought, 
As, oh, alas, I tremble with the thought. 

Some he incased in the coats of bears, 
Among wild beasts devoured so to be : 
And some for prey unto the hunter's spears, 
Like savage beasts withouten ruth to die : 
Sometime, to increase his horrible cruelty, 
The quick with face to face engraved he, 
Each other's death that each might living see. 

Lo, what more cruel horror might be found 
To purchase fear, if fear could stay his reign ? 
It booted not, it rather strake the wound 
Of fear in him, to fear the like again : 
And so he did full oft, and not in vain, 
As in his life his cares could witness well, 
But, most of all, his wretched end doth tell. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 139 

His own dear wife, whom as his life he lov'd, 
He durst not trust, nor 'proach unto her bed, 
But causing first his slave with naked sword 
To go before, himself with trembling dread 
Straight followeth fast, and whirling in his head 
His rolling eyen, he searcheth here and there 
The deep danger that he so sore did fear. 

For not in vain it ran still in his breast, 
Some wretched hap should hale him to his end, 
And therefore alway by his pillow prest 
Had he a sword, and with that sword he wend 
In vain, God wot, all perils to defend : 
For, lo, his wife, foreirked 1 of his reign, 
Sleeping in bed this cruel wretch hath slain. 

What should I more now seek to say in this, 

Or one jot farther linger forth my tale ? 

With cruel Nero, or with Phalaris, 

Caligula, Domitian, and all 

The cruel rout ? or of their wretched fall ? 
I can no more, but in my name advert 
All earthly powers beware of tyrant's heart. 
1 Foreirked — tired, wearied with. 



140 HENRY STAFFORD 

And as our state endured but a throw, 

So, best in us, the stay of such a state 

May best appear to hang on overthrow, 

And better teach tyrants deserved hate, 

Than any tyrant's death tofore or late : 
So cruel seem'd this Kichard third to me, 
That, lo, myself now loath'd his cruelty. 

For when, alas, I saw the tyrant king 
Content not only from his nephews twain 
To reave world's bliss, but also all world's being, 
Sans 1 earthly guilt ycausing both be slain, 
My heart aggriev'd that such a wretch should reign, 
Whose bloody breast so salvag'd out of kind, 2 
That Phalaris had ne'er so bloody a mind. 

Ne could I brook him once within my breast, 
But with the thought my teeth would gnash withal : 
For though I erst were his by sworn behest, 
Yet when I saw mischief on mischief fall, 
So deep in blood, to murder prince and all, 
Ay then, thought I, alas, and wealaway, 
And to myself thus mourning would I say : 

1 Sans — without. 2 Kind — nature. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 141 

If neither love, kindred, ne knot of blood, 
His own allegiance to his prince of due, 
Nor yet the state of trust wherein he stood, 
The world's defame, nor nought could turn him true, 
Those guiltless babes, could they not make him rue ? 
Nor could their youth nor innocence withal, 
Move him from reaving them their life and all ? 

Alas, it could not move him any jot, 
Ne make him once to rue, or wet his eye, 
Stirr'd him no more than that that stirreth not : 
But as the rock, or stone, that will not ply, 
So was his heart made hard with cruelty, 
To murder them : alas, I weep in thought, 
To think on that which this fell wretch hath wrought. 

That now, when he had done the thing he sought, 
And, as he would, 'complish'd and compass'd all, 
And saw and knew the treason he had wrought 
To God and man, to slay his prince and all, 
Then seem'd he first to doubt and dread us all, 

And me in chief; whose death, all means he might, 
He sought to work by malice and by might. 



142 HENRY STAFFORD 

m 
Such heaps of harms up harbour'd in his breast, 

With envious heart my honour to deface, 

And knowing he, that I, which wotted 1 best 

His wretched drifts, and all his cursed case, 

If ever sprang within me spark of grace, 

Must needs abhor him and his hateful race : 

Now more and more can 2 cast me out of grace. 

Which sudden change, when I, by secret chance 
Had well perceiv'd, by proof of envious frown, 
And saw the lot that did me to advance 
Him to a king, that sought to cast me down, 
Too late it was to linger any stoun, 

Sith present choice lay cast before mine eye : 
To work his death, or, I myself to die. 

And, as the knight in field among his foes, 
Beset with swords, must slay or there be slain ; 
So I, alas, lapp'd in a thousand woes, 
Beholding death on every side so plain, 
I rather chose by some sly secret train 
To work his death, and I to live thereby, 
Than he to live, and I of force to die. 
1 Wotted — knew. a Can — began. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 143 

Which heavy choice so hasten' d me to chose, 
That I in part aggriev'd at his disdain, 
In part to wreak the doleful death of those 
Two tender babes, his seely nephews twain, 
By him, alas, commanded to he slain, 

With painted cheer humbly before his face, 
Straight took my leave, and rode to Brecknock place. 

And there as close and covert as I might 
My purpos'd practice to his pass to bring, 
In secret drifts I linger' d day and night, 
All how I might depose this cruel king, 
That seem'd to all so much desired a thing, 
As, thereto trusting, I empris'd 1 the same: 
But too much trusting brought me to my bane. 

For while I now had fortune at my beck, 

Mistrusting I no earthly thing at all, 

Unwares, alas, least looking for a check, 

She mated me in turning of a ball : 

When least I fear'd, then nearest was my fall, 

And when whole hosts were press' d to 'stroy my foen, 
She chang'd her cheer, and left me post alone. 2 

1 Emprised — undertook. 2 Post alone — quite alone. 



144 HENRY STAFFORD 

I had uprais'd a mighty band of men, 
And marched forth in order of array, 
Leading* my power amid the forest Dene, 
Against the tyrant banner to display : 
But, lo, my soldiers cowardly shrank away ; 
For such is fortune when she list to frown, 
Who seems most sure, him soonest whirls she down. 

O, let no prince put trust in commonty, 
Nor hope in faith of giddy people's mind, 
But let all noble men take heed by me, 
That by the proof too well the pain do find : 
Lo, where is truth or trust ? or what could bind 
The vain people, but they will sweiwe and sway. 
As chance brings change to drive and draw that way. 

Rome, thou that once advanced up so high, 
Thy stay, patron, and flower of excellence, 
Hast now thrown him to depth of misery, 
Exiled him that was thy whole defence, 
Ne countest it not an horrible offence, 
To reaven him of honour and of fame, 
That won it thee when thou hadst lost the same. 



DUKE OJF BUCKINGHAM. 145 

Behold Camillus, he that erst reviv'd 
The state of Borne, that dying he did find, 
Of his own state is now, alas, depriv'd, 
Banish'd by them whom he did thus debt-bind : 
That cruel folk, unthankful and unkind, 

Declared well their false inconstancy, 

And fortune eke her mutability. 

And thou, Scipio, a mirror mayst thou be 
To all nobles, that they learn not too late, 
How they once trust the unstable commonty ; 
Thou that recuredst the torn dismember'd state, 
Ev'n when the conqueror was at the gate, 
Art now exil'd, as though thou not deserv'd 
To rest in her, whom thou hadst so preserved. 

Ingrateful Borne, hast showed thy cruelty 
On him, by whom thou livest yet in fame, 
But nor thy deed, nor his desert shall die, 
But his own words shall witness aye the same : 
For, lo, his grave doth thee' most justly blame, 
And with disdain in marble says to thee : 
Unkind country, my bones shalt thou not see. 



146 HENRY STAFFORD 

What more unworthy than this his exile ? 
More just than this the woeful plaint he wrote ? 
Or who could show a plainer proof the while, 
Of most false faith, than they that thus forgot 
His great deserts, that so deserved not? 
His cinders yet, lo, doth he them deny 
That him denied amongst them for to die. 

Melciades, O happy hadst thou be, 
And well rewarded of thy countrymen, 
If in the field when thou hadst forc'd to fly, 
By thy prowess, three hundred thousand men, 
Content they had been to exile thee then : 
And not to cast thee in depth of prison, so 
Laden with gyves, 1 to end thy life in woe. 

Alas, how hard and steely hearts had they, 
That, not contented there to have thee die, 
With fetter'd gyves in prison where thou lay, 
Increas'd so far in hateful cruelty, 
That burial to thy corpse they eke deny : 

Ne will they grant the same till thy son have 
Put on thy gyves, to purchase thee a grave. 
1 Gyves — fetters. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 147 

Lo, Hannibal, as long as fixed fate, 
And brittle fortune had ordained so, 
Who, evermore advanc'd his country state 
Than thou, that livedst for her and for no mo? 1 
But when the stormy waves began to grow, 

Without respect of thy deserts ere while, 

Art by thy country thrown into exile. 

Unfriendly fortune, shall I thee now blame ? 
Or shall I fault the Fates that so ordain'd ? 
Or art thou, Jove, the causer of the same ? 
Or cruelty herself, doth she constrain ? 
Or on whom else, alas, shall I complain ? 

O trustless world, I can accusen none, 

But fickle faith of commonty alone. 

The polypus nor the cameleon strange, 

That turn themselves to every hue they see, 

Are not so full of vain and fickle change, 

As is this false unsteadfast commonty : 

Lo, I, alas, with mine adversity 

Have tried it true, for they are fled and gone, 
And of an host there is not left me one. 
1 Mo — more. 



148 HENRY STAFFORD 

That I, alas, in this calamity 
Alone was left, and to myself might plain 
This treason, and this wretched cowardy, 
And eke with tears beweepen and complain 
My hateful hap, still looking to be slain ; 
Wandering in woe, and to the gods on high 
Clepeing 1 for vengeance of this treachery. 

And as the turtle that has lost her mate, 
Whom griping sorrow doth so sore attaint, 
With doleful voice and sound which she doth make, 
Mourning her loss, fills all the grove with plaint : 
So I, alas, forsaken and forfaint, 

With restless foot the wood roam up and down, 
Which of my dole all shivering doth resowne. 

And being thus, alone, and all forsake, 
Amid the thick, forewander'd in despair, 
As one dismayed, ne wist what way to take, 
Until at last 'gan to my mind repair, 
A man of mine, called Humfrey Banastaire : 
Wherewith me feeling much recomforted, 
In hope of succour, to his house I fled. 
1 Clepe — to call. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 149 

Who being one whom erst I had upbrought 
Ev'n from his youth, and lov'd and liked best. 
To gentry state advancing him from nought, 
And had in secret trust, above the rest 
Of special trust, now being thus distressed, 
Full secretly to him I me conveyed, 
Not doubting there but I should find some aid. 

But out, alas, on cruel treachery, 
When that this caitiff once an inkling heard, 
How that king Richard had proclaim'd, that he 
Which me descried should have for his reward 
A thousand pounds, and further be preferred, 
His truth so turn'd to treason, all distain'd, 
That faith quite fled, and I by trust was train'd. 

For by this wretch I being straight betrayed 
To one John Mitton, sheriff of Shropshire then, 
All suddenly was taken, and conveyed 
To Salisbury, with rout of harness'd men, 
Unto king Richard there, encamped then 
Fast by the city with a mighty host : 
Withouten doom where head and life I lost." 



150 HENRY STAFFORD 

And with these words, as if the axe ev'n there 
Dismembered his head and corpse apart, 
Dead fell he down : and we in woeful fear 
Stood 'mazed when he would to life revert : 
But deadly griefs still grew about Ins heart, 
That still he lay, sometime reviv'd with pain, 
And with a sigh becoming dead again. 

Midnight was come, and every vital thing 
With sweet sound sleep their w r eary limbs did rest, 
The beasts were still, the little birds that sing, 
Now sweetly slept beside their mother's breast, 
The old and all well shrouded in their nest : 
The waters calm, the cruel seas did cease, 
The woods, the fields, and all things held their peace. 

The golden stars were whirl'd amid their race, 
And on the earth did with their twinkling light, 
When each thing nestled in his resting place, 
Forgat day's pain with pleasure of the night : 
The hare had not the greedy hounds in sight, 
The fearful deer of death stood not in doubt, 
The partridge drept not of the falcon's foot. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 151 

The ugly bear now minded not the stake, 
Nor how the cruel mastiffs do him tear. 
The stag lay still unroused from the brake, 
The foamy boar fear'd not the hunter's spear : 
All thing was still in desert, bush, and brear : 
With quiet heart now from their travails ceas'd, 
Soundly they slept in midst of all their rest. 

When Buckingham, amid his plaint oppress'd, 
With surging sorrows, and with pinching pains 
In sort thus sown'd, 1 and with a sigh, he ceas'd 
To tellen forth the treachery and the trains 
Of Banastaire : which him so sore distrains, 
That from a sigh he falls into a sounde, 1 
And from a sounde lieth raging on the ground. 

So twitching were the pangs that he assayed, 
And he so sore with rueful rage distraught, 
To think upon the wretch that him betrayed, 
Whom erst he made a gentleman of nought, 
That more and more agrieved with this thought, 
He storms out sighs, and with redoubled sore, 
Stroke with the furies, rageth more and more. 
1 Sounde — swoon. 



152 HENRY STAFFORD 

Whoso hath seen the bull chased with darts, 
And with deep wounds foregall'd and gored so, 
Till he, oppressed with the deadly smarts, 
Fall in a rage, and run upon his foe, 
Let him, I say, behold the raging woe 

Of Buckingham, that in these gripes of grief, 
Rageth 'gainst him that hath betrayed his life. 

With blood red eyen he stareth here and there, 
Frothing at mouth, with face as pale as clout : 
When, lo, my limbs were trembling all for fear, 
And I amaz'd stood still in dread and doubt, 
While I might see him throw his arms about : 

And 'gainst the ground himself plunge with such force, 
As if the life forthwith should leave the corpse. 

With smoke of sighs sometime I might behold 
The place all dimm'd, like to the morning mist : 
And straight again the tears how they down roll'd 
Alongst his cheeks, as if the rivers hiss'd : 
Whose flowing streams ne were no sooner whist, 1 
But to the stars such dreadful shouts he sent, 
As if the throne of mighty Jove should rent. 
1 Whist— still, silent. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 153 

And I the while with spirits well nigh bereft, 
Beheld the plight and pangs that did him strain, 
And how the blood his deadly colour left, 
And straight return'd with flaming red again : 
When suddenly amid his raging pain 

He gave a sigh, and with that sigh he said : 
Oh Banastaire ! and straight again he stay'd. 

Dead lay his corpse, as dead as any stone, 
Till swelling sighs storming within his breast, 
Uprais'd his head, that downward fell anon, 
With looks upcast, and sighs that never ceas'd : 
Forth stream'd the tears, records of his unrest, 

When he with shrieks thus groveling on the ground, 
Ybrayed these words with shrill and doleful sound, 

" Heaven and earth, and ye eternal lamps 
That, in the heavens wrapt, will us to rest, 
Thou bright Phoebe, that clearest the night's damps, 
Witness the plaints that in these pangs oppressed, 
I, woeful wretch, unlade out of my breast, 
And let me yield my last words, ere I part, 
You, you, I call to record of my smart. 



1 54 HENRY STAFFORD 

And thou, Alecto, feed me with thy food, 
Let fall thy serpents from thy snaky hair, 
For such relief well fits me in this mood, 
To feed my plaint with horrour and with fear, 
While rage afresh thy venom'd worm arrear : 
And thou Sibilla, when thou seest me faint, 
Address thyself the guide of my complaint. 

And thou, O Jove, that with thy deep foredoom 
Dost rule the earth, and reign above the skies, 
That wreakest wrongs, and givest the dreadful doom 
Against the wretch that doth thy name despise, 
Receive these words, and wreak them in such wise, 
As heaven and earth may witness and behold, 
Thy heaps of wrath upon this wretch unfold. 

Thou, Banastaire, 'gainst thee I clepe and call 
Unto the gods, that they just vengeance take 
On thee, thy blood, thy stained stock and all : 
O Jove, to thee above the rest I make 
My humble plaint, guide me, that what I speak 
May be thy will upon this wretch to fall, 
On thee, Banastaire, wretch of wretches all. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 155 

O would to God that cruel dismal day, 
That gave me light first to behold thy face, 
With foul eclipse had reft my sight away : 
The unhappy hour, the time, and eke the place. 
The sun and moon, the stars, and all that was 
In their aspects helping in ought to thee, 
The earth and air, and all, accursed be. 

And thou, caitiff, that like a monster swerv'd 
From kind and kindness, hast thy master lorn, 
Whom neither truth, nor trust wherein thou serv'd, 
JSTe his deserts could move, nor thy faith sworn, 
How shall I curse, but wish that thou unborn 
Had been, or that the earth had rent in tway, 
And swallow'd thee in cradle as thou lay. 

To this did I, ev'n from thy tender youth, 
Witsave 1 to bring thee up ? did I herefore 
Believe the oath of thy undoubted truth ? 
Advance thee up, and trust thee evermore ? 
By trusting thee that I should die therefore ? 

O wretch, and worse than wretch, what shall I say ? 

But clepe and curse 'gainst thee and thine for aye. 
1 Witsave — vouchsafe. 



156 HENRY STAFFORD 

Hated be thou, disdain'd of every wight, 
And pointed at wherever that thou go : 
A traitorous wretch, unworthy of the light 
Be thou esteem'd : and to increase thy woe, 
The sound be hateful of thy name also : 

And in this sort with shame and sharp reproach, 
Lead thou thy life, till greater grief approach. 

Dole and despair, let those be thy delight, 
Wrapped in woes that cannot be unfold, 
To wail the day, and weep the weary night, 
With rainy eyen and sighs cannot be told, 
And let no wight thy woe seek to withhold : 

But count thee worthy, wretch, of sorrow's store, 
That suffering much, ought still to suffer more. 

Deserve thou death, yea be thou deem'd to die 
A shameful death, to end thy shameful life : 
A sight long'd for, joyful to every eye, 
When thou shalt be arraigned as a thief, 
Standing at bar, and pleading for thy life, 

With trembling tongue, in dread and dolour's rage, 
Lade with white locks, and fourscore years of age. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 157 

Yet shall not death deliver thee so soon 
Out of thy woes, so happy shalt thou not be : 
But to the eternal Jove this is my boon, 
That thou mayest live thine eldest son to see 
Reft of his wits, and in a foul boar's sty 

To end his days, in rage and death distress'd, 
A worthy tomb where one of thine should rest. 

And after this, yet pray I more, thou may 

Thy second son see drowned in a dyke, 

And in such sort to close his latter day, 

As heard or seen erst hath not been the like : 

Ystrangled in a puddle, not so deep 

As half a foot, that such hard loss of life, 
So cruelly chanc'd, may be thy greater grief. 

And not yet shall thy hugy sorrows cease, 
Jove shall not so withhold his wrath from thee, 
But that thy plagues may more and more increase, 
Thou shalt still live, that thou thyself mayest see 
Thy dear daughter stricken with leprosy : 

That she, that erst was all thy whole delight, 
Thou now mayest loath to have her come in sight. 



158 HENRY STAFFORD 

And after that, let shame and sorrow's grief 
Feed forth thy years continually in woe, 
That thou mayest live in death, and die in life, 
And in this sort f ore wail' d and wearied so, 
At last thy ghost to part thy hody fro : 

This pray I, Jove, and with this latter breath, 
Vengeance I ask upon my cruel death." 

This said, he flung his retchless 1 arms abroad, 
And, groveling, flat upon the ground he lay, 
Which with his teeth he all-to gnash' d and gnaw'd, 
Deep groans he fetch' d, as he that would away : 
But, lo, in vain he did the death assay : 
Although I think was never man that knew 
Such deadly pains, where death did not ensue. 

So strove he thus awhile as with the death, 
Now pale as lead, and cold as any stone, 
Now still as calm, now storming forth a breath 
Of smoky sighs, as breath and all were gone : 
But every thing hath end : so he anon 

Came to himself, when, with a sigh outbray'd, 
With woeful cheer, these woeful words he said : 
1 Retchless — careless. 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 159 

" Ah, where am I, what thing, or whence is this ? 

Who reft my wits ? or how do I thus lie ? 

My limbs do quake, my thought aghasted is, 

Why sigh I so ? or whereunto do I 

Thus grovel on the ground ?" and by and by 
Uprais'd he stood, and with a sigh hath stay'd, 
When to himself returned, thus he said : 

" Suffieeth now this plaint and this regret, 
Whereof my heart his bottom hath unfraught : 
And of my death let peers and princes wete 1 
The world's untrust, that they thereby be taught : 
And in her wealth, sith that such change is wrought 
Hope not too much, but in the mids of all 
Think on my death, and what may them befall. 

So long as fortune would permit the same, 
I hVd in rule and riches with the best : 
And pass'd my time in honour and in fame, 
That of mishap no fear was in my breast : 
But false fortune, when I suspected least, 
Did turn the wheel, and with a doleful fall 
Hath me bereft of honour, life, and all, 
1 Wete, — to know. 



160 HENRY STAFFORD 

Lo, what avails in riches floods that flows ? 

Though she so snnTd, as all the world were his, 

Even kings and kesars biden fortune's throws. 

And simple sort must bear it as it is. 

Take heed by me that blith'd in baleful bliss : 
My rule, my riches, royal blood and all, 
"When fortune frown'd, the feller made my fall. 

For hard mishaps, that happens unto such 
"Whose wretched state erst never fell no change, 
Agrieve them not in any part so much 
As their distress : to whom it is so strange 
That all their lives, nay, passed pleasures range, 
Their sudden woe, that aye wield wealth at will, 
Algates their hearts more piercingly must thrill. 

For of my birth, my blood was of the best, 
Firstborn an earl, then duke by due descent. 
To swing the sway in court among the rest, 
Dame Fortune me her rule most largely lent. 
And kind with courage so my corpse had blent, 

That lo, on whom but me did she most smile ? 

And whom but me, lo, did she most beguile ? 



DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 161 

Now hast thou heard the whole of my unhap, 
My chance, my change, the cause of all my care : 
In wealth and woe, how fortune did me wrap, 
With world at will, to win me to her snare : 
Bid kings, bid kesars, bid all states beware, 
And tell them this from me that tried it true : 
Who reckless rules, right soon may hap to rue." 



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industry, and, above all, strong faith in the ference to any part of it easy : this was the 
interest and importance of his subject. . . . more necessary, on account of the multi- 
On various points he has given us addi- faiiousness of the topics treated, the va- 
tional information, and afforded us new riety of persons mentioned, and the many 
views, for which we are bound to thank works quoted." — Athenaumj Oct. b, lboo. 

LAPPENBERG'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, under Ihe Anglo- 
Saxon Kings. Translated by Benj. Thorpe, with Additions and Corrections, by the 
Author and' Translator. 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, 12s. (original price £1. Is.) 

LETTERS OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND.— Now first collected 
from the Originals in Royal Archives, and from other Authentic Sources, private as 
well as public. Edited, with Historical Introduction and Notes, by J. 0. Hall well. 
Two handsome volumes, post 8vo, with portraits of Henry Vlll and Charles I. Cloth, 
8s. (original price £1. Is.) 

These volumes form a good companion to Ellis's Original Letters. 

GAIMAR'S (GEOFFREY) Anglo-Norman Metrical Chronicle of the 
ANGLO-SAXON KINGS. Printed for the first time entire. With Appendix, contain- 
ing the Lay of Havelok the Dane, the Legend of Ernulph, and Life of Henvard the 
Saxon. Edited bv T. Wright, I'.S.A. 8vo (pp. 3*4), cloth, 12s. 



JOHN KUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 3 

WACE (MASTER), HIS CHRONICLE OP THE NORMAN 

CONQUEST, from the Roman deRou. Translated into English Prose, with Notes and 

Illustrations, by Edgar Taylor, E.SA. 8vo, many engravings from the Bayeux Tapestry, 

Norman Architecture, Illuminations, $rc. Cloth, 15s. (pub. at £1. 8s.) 

Only 250 copies printed, and very few re- above low price, in consequence of the death 

main unsold ;. the remaining copies are now of Mr. Pickering ; hitherto no copies hav J 

in J. R. Smith's hands, and are offered at the been sold under the published price. 

LIFE, PROGRESSES, AND REBELLION OF JAMES, DUKE 

OF MONMOUTH, &c, to his Capture and Execution, with a full account of the 
Bloody Assize, and copious Biographical Notices. By George Roberts. 2 vols, post Svu, 
plates and cuts, new, extra cloth, 9s. (original price £1. 4s.) 

Two very interesting volumes, particularly so to those connected with the West 
of England. 

A NEW LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE, including many particulars 
respecting the Poet and his Eamily, never before publisned. By J. 0. Halliweil, 
F R.S., &c. In one handsome volume, 8vo, illustrated with 76 engravings on icooJ, 
of objects, most of which are new, from drawings by Fairholt. Cloth, 15s. 
This work contains upwards of forty do- light is thrown on his personal history, by 
cuments respecting Shakespeare and his papers exhibiting him as selling Malt, 
family, never before published, besides nu- Stone, &c. Of the seventy-six engravings 
rnerous others indirectly illustrating the which illustrate the volume, more than fifty 
Poet's biography. All the anecdotes and have never before been engraved. 
traditions concerning Shakespeare are here, It is the only Life of Shakespeare to be 

for the first time, collected, and much new bought separately from his works. 

SHAKESPERIANA.— A Catalogue of the Early Editions of Shake- 
speare's Plays, and of the Commentaries and other Publications illustrative of his 
Works. By J. 0. Halliweil. 8vo, cloth, 3s. 
Indispensable to everybody who wishes Shakespeare, or who may have a fancy for 

to carry on any inquiries connected with Shakespearian bibliography. — Spectator. 

SHAKESPEARE'S VERSIFICATION and its apparent Irregularities 
explained by Examples from early and late English Writers. By the late William 
Sidney Walker, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; edited by W. Nanson 
Lettsom, Esq. Fcp. 8vo, cloth, 6s. 

FEW NOTES ON SHAKESPEARE, with Occasional Remarks 
on the Emendations of the Manuscript-Corrector m Mr. Collier's copy of the folio, 
1632. By the Rev. Alexander Dyce. 8vo, cloth, 5s. 
' Mr. Dyce's Notes are peculiarly delight- enabled him to enrich them. All that he has 
ful, from the stores of illustration with recorded is valuable. We read his little vo- 
which his extensive reading not only among lume with pleasure, and close it with re- 
cur writers, but among those of other coun- gret." — Literary Gazette. 
tries, especially of the Italian poets, has 

Other Publications illustrative of ShaJcespeare' s Life and Writings. 

Malone's Letter to Dr. Farmer (in TVivelVs Historical Account of the 

Reply to Ritson), relative to his Edition Monumental Bust of Shakespeare, in the 

of Shakespeare, published 1790. 8vo, Chancel of Stratford-on-Avon Church. 

sewed, Is. 8vo, 2 plates, Is. 6d. 

Ireland's (W. Henry) Authentic Ireland's (W. H.) Vortigem, an 

Account of the Shakespearian Manu- Historical Play, represented at Drury 

scripts, &c. {respecting his fabrication of Lane, April 2, 1796, as a supposed newly 

them). 8vo, ls.6d. discovered Drama of Shakespeare. New 

Graves's (H. 31.) Essay on the fition with an original Preface Bvo, 
n e A, , J . 1 .^. \ ' facsimile, Is. 6d. (original once :>s. 6d ) 
Genms of Shakespeare, with CriticnlRe- * i The preface is both Writing ami re- 
marks on the Characters of Romeo, * rioil8 Vrom the additional information 



Hamlet, Juliet, and Ophelia. Post 8vo, 



it gives respecting the Shake! 



cloth, 2s. 6d. (original price os. 6d ) Forgeries, containing also the substance 

Comparative Review of the Opi- of his " Confessions." 

nions of JAMES BOADEN, in 1795 and Traditionary Anecdotes of Shake* 

in 1796, relative to the Shakespeare MSS. spea--e, collected in Warwickshire in 1893L 

8vo, 8s. 8vo, sewed, la. 



4 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING BOOKS. 

Boaden (Jas.) on the Sonnets of Shakespeare's Will, copied from 
Shakespeare, identifying the person to the Original in the Prerogative Court, 
whom they are addressed, and elucidat- preserving the Interlineations and Fac- 
ing several points in the Poet's liistory. similes of the three Autographs of the 



Poet, with a few preliminary Observa- 
tions. By J. 0. Halliwell, I.R.S., &c. 
4to, Is. 



8vo, Is. 6d. 
Madden' 's (Sir F.) Observations on 

an Autograph of Shakespeare, and the 

Orthography of his Name 8vo, sewed, Is. A Few ^ emar T €S on the Fmenda- 

Criticism applied to Shakespeare. tion " Who smothers her with Painting," 

By C. Badham. Post 8vo, Is. in the Plav of Cymbeiine, discovered by 

Collier's {J. P.) Reasons for a New \ iv ' ££&> % c ° rr , ected Copy of th* 

t,v,. Vov l > w J i o i Second Edition of bhakespeare. Bv J. 0. 

Edition of Shakespeare's W orks. 8vo, Is. Halliwell 8vo Is 

Account of the only known Manu- 

script of Shakespeare's Plays, comprising ^ Few Words in Reply to Mr. 

some important variations and correc- Dyce's "Few Notes on Shakespeare." 

tions in the " Merry Wives of Windsor," By the Rev. Joseph Hunter. 8vo, 13. 
obtained from a Playhouse Copy of that 

Play recently discovered. By J. 0. Hal- The Grimaldi Shakespeare. — « 

liwell. 8vo,'ls. Notes and Emendations on the Plavs of 

RimbauWs " WliO was £ Jack WiU Shakespeare, from a recently discovered 
son ' the Singer of Shakespeare's Stage ?" ^TTllT 'V ^ i ' Gnmaldl ' 
An attempt to prove the identity oAhia Ls ^> Comedian. 8vo, cuts, Is. 
person with J ohnWilson, Doctor of Music A humorous squib on the late Shake- 
in the University of Oxford, A.D. 1614. speare Emendaiions. 
8vo, Is. 



THE PILGRIM FATHERS.— Collections concerning the Church or 

Congregation of Protestant Separatists formed at Scrooby, in North Nottinghamshire, 

in the time of James I, the Founders of New Plymouth] the Parent Colony of New 

England. By the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S A., and an Assistant Keeper of her 

Majesty's Records. Handsomely printed. 8vo, cloth, 8s. 

This work contains some very important recently been discovered, through the in- 

particulars of these personages, and their defatigable exertions of the Author. Pre- 

eonnections previously to tiieir leaving fixed to the volume are some beautiful 

England and Holland, which were entirely Prefatory Stanzas, by llicharu Monckton 

unknown to former writers, and have only Milnes, Esq., M.P. 

LOVE LETTERS OE MRS. PIOZZI (formerly Mrs. Thrale, the 

friend of Dr. Johnson), written when she was Eightv, to the handsome actor, William 
Augustus Conway, aged Twenty-seven. 8vo, sewed, 2s. 

LIFE OF MR. THOMAS GENT, Printer, of York. Written by 
himself. 8vo, fine portrait, engraved by Aug. Fox. Cloth, 2s. 6d. (original price 9s.) 
The Author of this curious, and hitherto was the author as well as printer. The 
unpublished, piece of Autobiography is well Booh requires no encomium to those icho 
known by the several works of which he have read Southey's " Doctor." 

ENGLAND'S WORTHIES, under whom all the Civil and Bloody 
Warres, since Anno 1642 to Anno 1G47, are related. By John Vicars, Author of 
" England's Parliamentary Chronicle," &c. &c. Royal 12mo, reprinted in the old style 
{similar to Lady Willoughby's Diary), with copies of the 18 rare portraits after Hollar, 
$-c. Half morocco, 5s. 

LISTER. — The Autobiography of Joseph Lister (a Nonconformist), of 
Bradford, Yorkshire, with a contemporary account of the Defence of Bradford and 
Capture of Leeds, by the Parliamentarians, in 1642. Edited by Thos. Wright, E.S.A. 
8vo, sewed, 2s. 

EORMAN. — The Autobiography and Personal Diary of Dr. Simon 
Forman, the celebrated Astrologer, 1552-1602, from unpublished MSS. in the Ashmo- 
lean Museum, Oxford. Edited by J. 0. Halliwell. Small 4to, sewed, 5s. 
Only 150 copies privately printed. It will by the Camden Society, who also printed 

form a companion to Dr.Dee's Diary, printed this work but afterwards suppressed it. 



JOHN KUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 5 
LIFE, POETKY, AND LETTERS OF EBENEZER ELLIOTT, 

the Corn- Law Rhymer (of Sheffield). Edited by his Son-iu-Law, John Watkins 
Post 8vo, cloth (an interesting volume), 3s. (original j^rice 7s. 6d.) 

WESLEY. — Narrative of a Remarkable Transaction in the Early Life 
of John Wesley. Now first printed, from a MS. in the British Museum. 8vo, sewed, 2s: 

A very curious love affair between J. W. thodists. It is entirely unknown to all 
and his housekeeper; it gives a curious in- Wesley's biographers. 
Bight into the early economy of the Me- 

GOUNTER'S (Col., of Racton, Sussex) Account of the Miraculous 
Escape of King Charles II. ]N r ow first printed. Post 8vo, Is. 

This little tract takes up the narrative where the Royal memoir breaks off. 



f fjttologg anU (£arlg gBngltsij ^Literature. 



COMPENDIOUS ANGLO- SAXON AND ENGLISH DIC- 
TIONARY. By the Rev. J. Bosworth, 1>.D. } F.R.S. &c. 8vo, closely printed in 
treble columns, 12s. 



Large Paper. Royal 8vo (to match the next Article), cloth, £1. 



"This is not a mere abridgment of the most practical and valuable in the former 

large Dictionary, but almost an entirely expensive edition, with a great accession 

new work. In this compendious one will be of new words and matter." — Author's 

found, at a very moderate price, all that is Preface. 

ON THE ORIGIN OP THE ENGLISH, Germanic, and Scandi- 
navian Languages and Nations, with Chronological Specimens of their Languages. 
By J. Bosworth, D.D. Royal 8vo, boards, £1. 
A new and enlarged edition of what was of the Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, and now 

formerly the Preface to the First Edition published separately. 

ANGLO-SAXON DELECTUS ; serving as a first Class-Book to the 
Language. By the Rev. W. Barnes, B.D., of St. John's College, Cambridge. 12mo 
cloth, 2s. 6d. 
"To those who wish to possess a critical by references to Greek, the Latin, French, 
knowledge of their own Native English, and other languages. A philosophical spirit 
some acquaintance with Anglo-Saxon is in- pervades every part. The Delectus consists 
dispensable; and we have never seen an of short pieces, on various subjects, with 
introduction better calculated than the pre- extracts from Anglo-Saxon History and the 
sent to supply the wants of a beginner in a Saxon Chronicle. There is a good Glossary 
short space of time. The declensions and at the end." — Athenceum, Oct. 20, 1849. 
conjugations are well stated, and illustrated 

GUIDE TO THE ANGLO-SAXON TONGUE : on the Basis of 

Professor Rask's Grammar ; to which are added, Reading Lessons, in Verse and Prose, 
with Notes, for the use of Learners. By E. J. Vernon, B.A., Oxon. 12mo, cloth, 5s. 
** Mr. Vernon has, we think, acted wisely Anglo-Saxon writers, in prose and verse, 
in taking Rask for his model; but let no for the practice of the student, who will 
one suppose from the title that the book is find great assistance in reading them from 
merely a compilation from the work of that the grammatical notes with which they are 
philologist. The accidence is abridged from accompanied, and from the glossary which 
Rask, with constant revision, correction, follows them. This volume, well studied, 
and modification ; but the syntax, a most will enahle any one to read with ease the 
important portion of the book, is original, generality of Anglo-Saxon writers; and its 
and is compiled with great care and skill ; cheapness places it within the reach of 
and the latter half of the volume consists of every class. It has our hearty recommen- 
a well-chosen selection of extracts from dation."— Literary Gazette. 



6 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING BOOKS. 

ANALECTA ANGLO-SAXONICA.— Selections, in Prose and Terse, 
from Anglo-Saxon Literature, with an Introductory Ethnological Essav, and Notes, 
Critical and Explanatory. By Louis F. Klipstein, of the University of Giessen. Two 
thick vols, post 8vo, cloth, 12s. (original price 18s.) 

INTRODUCTION TO ANGLO-SAXON READING; comprising 
iElfric's Homilv on the Birth-dav of St. Gregory, with a copious Glossary &c By 
L. Langley, F L.S. 12mo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 
,/Elfric's Homily is remarkable for beauty forth Augustine's mission to the " Land of 

of composition, and interesting, a3 setting the Angles." 

ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OE THE LIFE OF ST. GUTHLAC, 

Hermit of Croyland. Printed, for the first time, from a MS. in the Cottonian Librarv, 
with a Translation and Notes. By Charles Wycliffe Goodwin, M.A., Eellow of Cathe- 
rine Hall, Cambridge. 12mo, cloth, 5s. 

ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OF THE HEXAMERON OF ST. 

BASIL, and the Anglo-Saxon Remains of St. Basil's Admonitio adFilium Spiritualem. 
Now first printed, from MSS. in the Bodleian Library, with a Translation and Notes. 
By the Rev. H. W. Norman. 8vo, Second Edition, enlarged. Sewed, 4s. 

ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OF THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS 

of Tyre ;— upon which is founded the Play of Pericles, attributed to Shakespeare; — 
from a MS., witn a Translation and Glossary. By Benjamin Thorpe. 12mo, cloth, 
4s. 6d. (original price 6s.) 

ANALECTA ANGLO-SAXONICA.— A Selection, in Prose and Verse, 
from Anglo-Saxon Authors, of various ages, with a Glossary. By Benjamin Thorpe, 
F.S.A. A New Edition, with corrections and improvements. Post 8vo, cloth, 8s. (original 
price 12s.) 

POPULAR TREATISES ON SCIENCE, written during the Middle 
Ages, in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and English. Edited by Thomas Wright, M.A. 
8vo, cloth, 3s. 

A PHILOLOGICAL GRAMMAR, grounded upon English, and 

formed from a comparison of more than Sixty Languages. Being an Introduction to 

the Science of Grammars of all Languages, especially English, Latin, and Greek. By 

the Rev. W. Barnes, B D., of St. John's College, Cambridge ; Author of "Poems iii 

the Dorset Dialect," "Anglo-Saxon Delectus," &c. 8vo (pp. 322), cloth, 9s. 

"Mr. Barnes' work is an excellent spe- tice may be traced, and that an attempt 

cimen of the manner in which the advanc- may be made to expound a true science of 

ing study of Philology may be brought to Grammar. Mr. Barnes has so far grounded 

illustrate and enrich a scientific exposi- his Grammar upon English as to make it an 

tion of English Grammar." — Edinburgh English Grammar, but he has continually 

Guardian. referred to comparative philology, and 

" Of the science of Grammar, by indue- sought to render his work illustrative of 

tion from the philological facts of many general forms, in conformity with princi- 

languages, Mr. Barnes has, in this volume, pies common, more or less, to the language 

supplied a concise and comprehensive ma- of all mankind. More than sixty languages 

nual. Grammarians may differ as to the have been compared in the course of pre- 

regulanty of the principles on which na- paring the volume ; and the general prin- 

tions have constructed their forms and ciples laid down will be found useful in the 

usages of speech, but it is generally allowed study of various tongues. It is a learned 

that some conformity or similarity of prac- and philosophical treatise."— Lit. Gaz. 

SKELTON'S (John, Poet Laureate to Henry VIII) Poetical Works : 

the Bowge of Court, Colin Clout, "Why come ye not to Court? (his celebrated Satire 

on Wolsey), Phillip Sparrow, Elinour Rumming, &c. ; with Notes and Life. By the 

Rev. A.Dyce. 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, 14s. (original orice £1. 12s.) 

"The power, the strangeness, the volu- manner, made Skelton one of the most ex- 

bility of his language, the audacity of his . traordinary writers of any age or country." 

satire, and the perfect originality of his — Southey. 

EARLY HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND. Illus- 
trated by an English Poem of the XlVth Century, with Notes. By J. 0. Halliwcll. 
Post 8vo, Second Edition, with a facsimile of the original MS. in the" British Museum. 
Cloth, 2s. Cd. 



JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQTJAEE, LONDON. 7 

TORRENT OE PORTUGAL; an English Metrical Romance. Now 

first published, from an unique MS. of the XVth Century, preserved in the Chetham 

Library at Manchester. Edited by J. H alii well, &c. Post 8vo, cloth, uniform 

with JRitson, Weber, and Ellis's 'publications. 5s. 

" This is a valuable and interesting ad- to the collections of Bitson, Weber, and 

dition to our list of early English metrical Ellis." — Literary Gazette. 

romances, and an indispensable companion 

HARROWING- OE HELL; a Miracle Play, written in the Reign of 
Edward II. Now first published, from the Original in the British Museum, with a 
Modern Heading, Introduction, and Notes. By J. 0. Halliwell, Esq., F.B.S , F.S.A., 
&.c. 8vo, sewed, 2s. 

NUG.E POETIOA ; Select Pieces of Old English Popular Poetry, 
illustrating the Manners and Arts of the XVth Century. Edited by J. 0. Halliwell. 
Post 8vo, only 100 copies printed, cloth, 5s. 

ANECDOTA LITERARIA; a Collection of Short Poems in English, 
Latin, and French, illustrative of the Literature and History of England in the Xlllth 
Century ; and more especially of the Condition and Manners of the different Classes 
of Society. By T. Wright, M.A., F.S.A., &c. 8vo, cloth, only 250 copies printed, 5s. 

RARA MATHEMATICA ; or, a Collection of Treatises on the Mathe- 
matics and Subjects connected with them, from ancient inedited MSS. By J. 0, 
Halliwell. 8vo, Second Edition, cloth, ds. 

PHILOLOGICAL PROOFS of the Original Unity and Recent Origin 
of the Human Bace, derived from a Comparison of the Languages of Europe, Asia, 
Africa, and America. By A. J. Jolmes. 8vo, cloth, 6s. (original price 12s. 6d.) 

Printed at the suggestion of Dr. Prichard, to whose works it will be found a 
useful Supplement. 



ftobtucial ©talects of (SJttglanfc* 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST of all the Works which have been pub- 
lished towards illustrating the Provincial Dialects of England. By John Russell 
Smith. Post 8vo, Is 
" Very serviceable to such as prosecute . . . . We very cordially recommend it to 
the study of our provincial dialects, or are notice." 
collecting works on that curious subject. Metropolitan, 

GLOSSARY OE PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL WORDS USED 

IN ENGLAND; by F. Grose, F.S.A. : with which is now incorporated the Supple- 
ment, by Samuel Pegge, F.S.A. Post 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6d. 

Cornwall. — Specimens of Cornish Dorset. — Poems of Mural Life, in 

Provincial Dialect, collected and ar- the Dorset Dialect, with a Dissertation 

ranged by Uncle Jan Treenoodle, with and Glossary. By the Rev. Win. Barnes, 

eome Introductorv Bemarks and aGlos- B.D. Second Edition, enlarged and cor- 

sary by an Antiquarian Friend ; also a reeled, royal 12mo, cloth, 10s. 

Selection of Songs and other Pieces con- . _ ,. -. ,. ,i , , 

uected with Cornwall. Post 8vo, with A fine poetic feeling is ch splayed 

a curious portrait of Dolly Pentreath. f hrou S h ^e various pieces in tins vo- 

Cloth 4s mine; accordingto some critics nothing 

' ' has appeared equal to it since the time 

Cheshire. — Attempt at a Glossary of Burns; the "Gentleman's Maga- 
of some Words used in Cheshire. By zi"e " for December, 18-14, gave a re- 
Roger Wilbraham, F.A.S., &c. 12mo,bds. ™ w of tll(i Fwrt Edition some pages 



2s. 6d. (original price 5s.) 



in length. 



VALUABLE AST) INTERESTING BOOKS. 



Devonshire. — A Devonshire Dia- 
logue, in Four Parte (by Mrs. Palmer, 
sister to Sir Joshua Reynolds) with Glos- 
sary, by the Ilev. J. Phillipps, of Mem- 
bury, Devou. 12mo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 

Durham. — A Glossary of Words 
used in Teesdale. in the Countv of Dur- 
ham. Post 8vo, with a Map of the Dis- 
trict. Cloth, 6s. 

Essex. — John Noakes and Mary 
Styles : a Poem ; exhibiting some of the 
most striking lingual localisms peculiar 
to Essex ; with a Glossary. By Charles 
Clark, Esq., of Great Totkani Hall, Essex. 
Post 8vo, cloth, 2s. 

Lancashire-Dialect of South La n- 
cashire, or Tim Bohbm's Tunmius and 
Meary; revised and corrected, with his 
Pvhymes, and an enlarged Glossary of 
Words aud Phrases, chiefly used by the 
Kural Population of the Manufacturing 
Districts of South Lancashire. By Samuel 
Bam ford. 12mo, Second Edition. Cloth, 
3s. 6d. 

Leicestershire Words, Phrases, 
and Proverbs. By A. B. Evans, D.D., 
Mead Master of Market-Bosicorth Gram- 
mar School 1 2 mo, cloth, 5s. 

Northamptonshire. — The Dialect 
and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire : a 
Glossary of Northamptonshire Provin- 
cialisms, Collection of Fairy Legends, 
Popular Superstitions, Ancient Customs, 
Proverbs, &c. By Thomas Sternberg. 
12mo, cloth, 5s. 

Northampto nshire. — Glossary of 
Northamptonshire Words and Phrases ; 

with examples of their colloquial use, and 
illustrations, from various Authors ; to 
which are added, the Customs of the 
County. By Miss A. E. Baker. 2 vois. 
post 8vo, cloth, £1. 4s. 



Sussex. — A Glossary of the Pro- 
vincialisma of the County of Sussex 
By W. Durrant Cooper, F.S.A. Postbvo, 
Second Edition, enlarged. Cloth, 5s. 

Westmoreland and Cumberland. — 
Dialogues, Poems, Song3. and Ballads, 
by various Writers, in tire Westmoreland 
and Cumberland Dialects; now lir^t 
collected; to which is added, a copious 
Glossary of Words peculiar to those Coun- 
ties. Post 8vo (pp. 408), cloth, 9s. 

All the poetical quotations in "Mr. 
and Mrs. sandboy's Visit to the Great 
Exhibition," are to be found in tlus 
volume. 

Wiltshire. — J. Glossary of Pro- 
vincial Words and Phrases in use in 
"Wiltshire, showing their Derivation in 
numerous instances, from the Language 
of the Anglo-Saxons. By John Youge 
Akerman, Esq., F.S.A. 12mo, cloth, Ss. 

Wiltshire, fyc. — Spring Tide, or 

the Angler and his Friends. By J. Y. 

Akerman. 12mo, plates, cloth, 3s". 6tL 

These Dialogues incidentally illustrate 

the Dialect of the West of England. 

Yorkshire. — The Yorkshire Dia- 
lect, exemplified in various Dialogues, 
Tales, and Songs, applicable to the 
County; with a Glossary. Post bvo, Is. 

A Glossary of Yorkshire Word3 
and Phrases, collected in Whitby and its 
Neighbourhood; with examples of their 
colloquial use and allusions to local Cus- 
toms and Traditions. By an Inhabitant. 
12mo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 

Yorkshire -TJie Hallamshire {dis- 
trict of Sheffield) Glossary. By the Rev. 
Joseph Hunter, author of the History of 
" Hallamshire," " South Yorkshire," &c. 
Post 8vo, cloth, 4s. (original price bs.) 



<\r\f\P i psu> & 



^rcfjaeoIooftJ* 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INDEX to Remains of Antiquity of the Celtic, 
Komano-British, and Anelo-Saxon Periods. By John Yonge Akerman, Fellow and 
Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. 8vo, illustrated with numerous engravings, 
comprising upwards of fix e hundred objects. Cloth, 15s. 
This work, though intended as an intro- The plates, indeed, form the most valuable 



duction and a guide to the study of our early 
antiquities, will, it is hoped, also prove of 
service as a book of reference to the prac- 
tised Archaeologist. 

" One of the first wants of an incipient 
Antiquary is the facility of comparison; 
and here it is furnished him at one glance. 



part of the book, both by their uumbcrand 
Hie judicious selection 6f-<ypes and exam- 
ples which they contain." It is a book 
which we can, on this account, safely and 
warmly recommend to all who are interest- 
ed in the antiquities of then* native land." 
— Literary Gazette. 



JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 9 

REMAINS OE PAGAN SAXONDOM, principally from Tumuli in 

England. Drawn from the Originals. Described and illustrated by John Yonge 

Akerman, Fellow and Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. One handsome volume, 

4to, illustrated with 40 coloured plates, half morocco, £3. 

The plates are admirably executed by tion of the Author. It is a work well worthy 

Mr. Basire, and coloured under the direc- the notice of the Archaeologist. 

VESTIGES OE THE ANTIQUITIES OE DERBYSHIRE, and 

the Sepulchral Usages of its Inhabitants, from the most Bemote Ages to the Reforma- 
tion. By Thomas Bateman, Esq.. of Yolgrave, Derbyshire. In one handsome volume, 
8vo, with numerous woodcuts of Tumuli and their contents, Crosses, Tombs, 8fC. Cloth,15a. 

RELIQUIAE ANTIQUE EBORACENSIS, or Relics of Antiquity, 
relating to the County of York. By W. Bowman, of Leeds, assisted by several 
eminent Antiquaries. 4to, 6 Parts (complete), plates, 15s. 

RELIQ.ULE ISURIAN.E : the Remains of the Roman Isurium, now 

Aldborough, near Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, illustrated and described. By Henry 
Ecroyd Smith. Royal 4to, with 37 plates, cloth, £1. 5s. 

The most highly illustrated work ever published on a Roman Station in England. 

DESCRIPTION OE A ROMAN BUILDING-, and other Remains, 
discovered at Caerleon, in Monmouthshire. By J. E. Lee. Imperial 8vo, with 20 i«- 
teresting etchings by the Author. Sewed, 5s. 

ARCRJEOLOaiST AND JOURNAL OF ANTIQUARIAN 

SCiE>"CE. Edited by J. 0. Halliwell. 8vo. Nos. I to X. complete, with Index (pp. 420), 

with i9 engravings, cloth, reduced jrom 10s. 6d. to 5s. 6d. 
Containing original articles on Architec- graphy, Proceedings of the various Antiqua- 
tiiie, ljustori'cai Literature, Round Towers nan Societies, Retrospective Reviews, and 
at IrtJana, Philology, Bibliography, Topo- Reviews of recent Antiquarian Works, &o. 

ULSTER JOURNAL OE ARCHAEOLOGY : conducted under the 

superintendence of a Committee of Archaeologists at Belfast. Handsomely printed 
in 4to, witn engravuws. Published Quarterly. Annual Subscription, 12s. Nos. 1 to 12 
are ceady. 

ARCH^EOLOGrlA CAMBRENSIS.— A Record of the Antiquities, 
Historical, Genealogical, Topographical, and Architectural, of Wales audits Marches. 
First Series, complete, in 4 vols, 8vo, many plates and woodcuts, cloth, £2. 2s. 
Any odd Parts may be had to complete Sets. 

' — Second Series, 6 vols. 8vo, cloth, £3. 3s. 

■ Third Series, Vol. I, cloth, £1. 5s. 



Numismatics. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY of ANCIENT and MODERN 
COINS. By J. Y. Akerman, Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. Foolscap 8vo, 
with numerous wood engravings from the original Coins {an excellent introductory 
book), cloth, 6s. 6d. 

TRADESMEN'S TOKENS struck in London and its Vicinity, from 
1648 to 1671, described from the originals in the British Museum, &c. By J. Y. 
Akerman, F.S.A. 8vo, with 8 plates of numerous examples, cloth, 15s. 
Large Paper, in 4to, cloth, £1. Is. 
This work comprises a list of nearly three and coffee-house sisms, &c. &c. &c, with 
thousand Tokens, and contains occasional an introductory account of the causes 
illustrative topographical and antiquarian which led to the adoption of such a cur- 
notes on persons, places, streets, old tavern rcncy. 



10 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING BOOKS. 

ANCIENT COINS OF CITIES AND PRINCES, Geographically 
Arranged and Described — Hispania, GaLlia, Britannia. By J. Y. Akernian, F.S.A. 
8vo 3 with engravings of many hundred Coins from actual examples. Cloth, lbs. 

COINS OF THE ROMANS RELATING TO BRITAIN, Described 
and Illustrated. By J. Y. Akennan, F.S.A. Second Edition, greatly enlarged, bvo, 
with plates and woodcuts, 10s. Gd. 

NUMISMATIC ILLUSTRATIONS of the Narrative Portions of the 
NEW TESTAMENT. By J. Y. Akerman. 8vo, numerous woodcuts from the original 
Coins in various public and private Collections. Cloth, 5s. 

NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE AND JOURNAL OF THE NUMIS- 
MATIC SOCIETY. Edited by J. Y. Akernian. Published Quarterly, at 3s. 6d. 
per JS' umber. 
This is the only repertory of Numismatic ages and countries, by the first Numisma- 

intelligence ever published in England. It tists of the day, both English and Foreign. 

contains papers on coins and medals, of all Odd parts to complete sets. 

LIST OF TOKENS ISSUED BY WILTSHIRE TRADESMEN 

in the Seventeenth Century. By J. Y. Akernian. 8vo, plates, sewed, Is. 6d. 

LECTURES ON THE COINAGE OF THE GREEKS AND 

ROMANS, Delivered in the University of Oxford. By Edward Card well, D.D., Prin- 
cipal of St. Alban's Hall, and Professor of Ancient History, bvo, cloth, 4s. (original 
price bs. 6d.) 
A very interesting historical volume, and written in a pleasing and popular manner. 

HISTORY OF THE COINS OF CUNOBEL1NE, and of the 

ANCIENT BRITONS. By the Rev. Beale Poste. 8vo, with numerous plates and 
woodcuts, cloth {only 40 printed), £1. 8s. 

■ «» <B <& <!<$ ■<$ Kg (f>(t> $>Q> 3>J> a> . 



JOURNEY TO BERESFORD HALL, in Derbyshire, the Seat of 
Charles Cotton, Esq., the celehrated Author and Angl r. By W. Alexander, F.S.A., 
E.L.S., late Keeper of the Prints in the British Museum, Crown 4to, printed oil 
tinted paper, with a spirited frontispiece, representing Walton and his adopted Sou 
Cotton in the Fishing -house, and vignette title-page. Cloth, 5s. 

Dedicated to the Anglers of Great Britain and the various Walton and Cotton 
Clubs. Only 100 printed. 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MINE ; a Magazine, in which will be comprised 
the History of Kent, founded on the basis of Hasted. By A. J. Dunkiu. bvo. 
Parts 1 to 21. Published Monthly. Is. each. 

NOTES ON THE CHURCHES in the Counties of KENT, SUSSEX, 

and SURREY, mentioned in Domesday Book, and those of more recent Date; with 
some Account of the Sepulchral Memorials and other Antiquities. By the Rev. Arthuc 
llussey. Thick bvo, fine plates. Cloth, 18s. 

KENTISH CUSTOMS.— ConsuetudinesKancise. A History of Gavel- 
kind, and other remarkable Customs, in the County of Kent. By Charles Sandys, 
Esq., F.S.A. (Cantianus). Illustrated with facsimiles; avery handsome volume. Cloth, 15a 

HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES of RICHBOROUGH, RECUL- 

VER, and LYMNE, in Kent. By C. R. Roach Smith, Esq., F.S.A. Small 44a, with 

many engravings on wood and copper, by F. W. Fairholt. Cloth, £1. Is. 

■ No antiquarian volume could display a scnted— Roach Smith, the ardent explorer; 

trio of names more zealous, successful, and Fairholt, the excellent illustrator; and 

intelligent, on the subject of Romano-Bri- Rolte, the indefatigable collector."— Lite- 

tish remains, than the three here rep re- vary Gazette. 



JOHN KTTSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 11 



HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES of DARTFORD, in Kent ; with 
incidental Notices of Places in its Neighbourhood. By J. Dunkin. 8vo, 17 plates. 
Only 150 printed. Cloth, £1. Is. 

HISTORY of the TOWN of GRAVESEND, in Kent, and of the 
Port of London. By It. P. Cruden, late Mayor of Gravesend. Royal Svo, 37 fine 
plates and woodcuts ; a very handsome volume. Cloth, 10s. (original price £1. 8s.) 

ACCOUNT of the ROMAN and other ANTIQUITIES discovered 
at Springhead, near Gravesend, Kent. By A. J. Dunkin. 8vo, plates {only 100 printed}, 
Cloth, 6s. 6d. 

HISTORY of ROMNEY MARSH, in Kent, from the time of the 
Romans to 1833; with a Dissertation on the original Site of the Ancient Anderida. 
Bv W. Holloway, Esq., author of the " History of Rye.' 3 8vo, with maps and plates. 
Cloth, 12s. 

CRITICAL DISSERTATION on Professor Willis's "Architectural 
History of Canterbury Cathedral/ 5 By C. Sandys, of Canterbury. Svo, 2s. 6d. 

HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES of the TOWN of LANCASTER. 
Compiled from Authentic Sources. By the Rev. Robert Simpson. 8vo, cloth, 8s. 

A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT of LIVERPOOL, as it was during 

the last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century, 1775 — 1800. By Richard Brooke, Esq., 
E.S.A. A handsome volume. Royal 8vo, tvith illustrations. Cloth, £1. 5s 
In addition to information relative to the have never been previously published, re- 
Public Buildings, Statistics and Commerce specting the pursuits, habits, and amuse- 
of the Town, the work contains some cu- mentsofthe inhabitants of Liverpool during 
rious and interesting particulars which that period, with views of its public edifices. 

NOTICES of the HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES of ISLIP, 

Oxon. By J. O. Halliwell. Svo {only §0 printed), sewed, Is. 

HISTORY of BANBURY, in Oxfordshire; including Copious His- 
torical and Aniiquarian Notices of the Neighbourhood. By Alfred Beesley. Thick 
Svo, 684 closely printed pages, with 60 woodcuts, engraved in the first style of art, by 
O. Jewett, of Oxford. 14s. (original price £1. 5s.) 

HISTORY of WITNEY, with Notes of the Neighbouring Parishes 
and Hamlets in Oxfordshire. By the Rev. Dr. Giles, formerly Fellow of Christ's 
College, Oxford. 8vo, plates. Cloth {only 150 printed), 6s. 

HISTORY of the PARISH and TOWN of BAMPTON, in Oxford- 
shire, with the District and Hamlets belonging to it. By the Rev. Dr. Giles. 8vo, 
plates. Second Edition. Cloth, 7s. 6d. 

SUSSEX GARLAND.— A Collection of Ballads, Sonnets, Tales, 
Elegies, Songs, Epitaphs, &c, illustrative of the County of Sussex; with Notices, 
Historical, Biographical, and Descriptive. By James Taylor. Post 8vo, engravings. 
Cloth, 12s. 

HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES of the ANCIENT PORT and 

Town of RYE. in Sussex; compiled from Original Documents. By William Holloway, 
Esq. Thick 8vo {only 200 printed), cloth, £1. Is. 

HISTORY of WINCHELSEA, in Sussex. By W. Durrant Cooper, 

F.S.A. 8vo, fine plates and woodcuts, 7s. 6d. 

CHRONICLE of BATTEL ABBEY, in Sussex ; originally compiled 

in Latin by a Monk of the Establishment, and now first translated, with Notes, and 
an Abstract of the subsequent History of the Abbey. By Mark Antony Lower, M.A. 
8vo, with illustrations. Cloth, 9s. 

HAND-BOOK to LEWES, in Sussex, Historical and Descriptive; 

with Notices of the Recent Discoveries at the Priory. By Mark Antony Lower. 
12mo, many engravings. Cloth, Is. 6d. 

CHRONICLES of PEYENSEY, in Sussex. By M. A. Lower. 12mo, 

woodcuts, Is. 



12 VALUABLE AXD INTERESTING BOOKS. 

MEMORIALS of the TOWN of SEAFORD, Sussex. By M. A. 
Lower. 8vo, plates. Boards, 3s. 6d. 

HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES of the TOWN of MARL- 
BOROUGH, and more generally of the entire Hundred of Selkley in Wiltshire. By 
James Waylen, Esq. Tliick 8vo, looodcuts. Cloth, 14s. 

This volume describes a portion of Wilts not included by Sir ft. C. Hoare and 

other topographers. 

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT of the CISTERCIAN ABBEY of 

SALLEY, in Craven, Yorkshire, its Foundation and Benefactors, Abbots, Possessions, 
Compotus. and Dissolution, and its existing Remains. Edited by J. Harland. Royal 
8to, 12 plates. Cloth, 4s. 6d. 

ANNALS and LEGENDS of CALAIS; with Sketches of Emigre* 
Notabilities, and Memoir of Lady Hamilton. By Robert Bell Calton, author of 
" Rambles in Sweden and Gottland," kc. Sec. Postbvo, with frontispiece and vignette. 
Cloth, os. 

A very entertaining volume on a town full of historical associations connected 
with England. 

f&eratorg, ^encalogg, anti Surnames. 



CURIOSITIES of HERALDRY; with Illustrations from Old 
English Writers. By Mark Antony Lower, M.A., author of " Essays on English 
Surnames;" with illuminated title-page, and numerous engravings from designs by 
the Author. 8vo, cloth, 14s. 

PEDIGREES of the NOBILITY akd GENTRY of HERTFORD- 
SHIRE. By William Berry, late, and for fifteen years, Registering Clerk in the Col- 
lege of Arms, author of the " Encyclopaedia Heruldica," \c. &c. Polio (only 125 
printed). £1. 5s. (original price £3. 10s). 

GENEALOGICAL and HERALDIC HISTORY of the Extinct and 
Dormant BARONETCIES of England, Ireland, and Scotland. By J. Burke, Esq. 
Medium 8vo. Second Edition. 038 closely printed pages, in double columns, icith about 
lOUO^rww engraved on wood, fine portrait of James I. Cloth, 10s. (original price £1. 8s0 

ENGLISH SURNAMES.— An Essay on Family Nomenclature, His- 
torical, Etymological, and Humorous; with several illustrative Appendices. By Mark 
Antony Lower, M.A. 2 vols, post 8vo. Third Edition, enlarged, woodcuts. Cloth, 12s. 
This new and much improved edition, be- Allusive Arms, and the Roll of Battel 
sides a great enlargement of the chapters, Abbey, contain dissertations on Inn Signs 
contained in the previous editions, com- and remarks on Christian names; with a 
prises seveial that are entirely new, to- copious Index of many thousand names, 
gether with notes on Scottish, Irish, and These features render " English Surnames" 
Norman surnames. The "Additional Pro- rather a new work than a new edition, 
lusions," besides the articles on Rebuses, 

INDEX to the PEDIGREES axd ARMS contained in the Heralds' 

"Visitations and other Genealogical Manuscripts in the British Museum. By R. Sims, 
of the Manuscript Department. 8vo, closely printed in double columns. Cloth, 15s. 
An indispensable work to those engaged ing the different families of the same name 

in Genealogical and Topographical pursuits, in any county), as recorded by the Heralds 

affording a ready clue to the Pedigrees and in their Visitations between the years 1523 

Anns of nearly 40,000 of the Gentry of to lGbG. 

England, their Residences, &c. (distinguish- 

A GRAMMAR of BRITISH HERALDRY, consisting of "Blazon" 

and "Marshalling;" with an Introduction on the Rise and Progress of Symbols and 
Ensigns, tty the Rev. W. Sloane-Evans, B.A. bvo, with £6 plates, comprising up- 
wards of 400' fig ures. C loth , 5 s . 

One of the best introductions ever published. 



JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 13 

A PLEA foe the ANTIQUITY of HERALDRY, with an Attempt 
to Expound its Theory and Elucidate its History. By W. Smith Ellis, Esq., of the 
Middle Temple. 8vo, sewed, Is. 6d. 

BARONIA ANGLIA CONCENTRATE ; or, a Concentration of all 

the Baronies called Baronies in Fee, deriving their Origin from Writ of Summons, and 
not from any specific Limited Creation ; showing the Descent and Line of Heirship, 
as well as those Families mentioned by Sir William Dugdale, as of those whom that 
celebrated Author has omitted to notice : interspersed with Interesting Notices and 
Explanatory Remarks. Whereto is added the Proofs of Parliamentary Sitting from 
the Reign of Edward I to Queen Anne ; also, a Glossary of Dormant English, Scotch, 
and Irish Peerage Titles, with references to presumed existing Heirs. By Sir T. C. Banks. 
2 vols. 4to, cloth, £3. 3s ; now offered for 15s. 

A book of great research by the well- former works. The second volume, pp. 210- 

known author of the "Dormant and Extinct 300, contains an Historical Account of the 

Peerage," and other heraldic and historical first settlement of Nova Scotia, and the 

works. Those fond of genealogical pursuits foundation of the Order of Nova Scotia 

ought to secure a copy while it is so cheap. Baronets, distinguishing those who had 

It may be considered a Supplement to his seisin of lands there. 



jFitu ^rts, 

♦ 

PLAYING- CARDS.— Facts and Speculations on the History of 
Playing Cards in Europe. By W. A. Chatto, author of the " History of Wood 
Engraving;" with Illustrations by J. Jackson. 8vo, profusely illustrated with 
engravings, loth plain and coloured. Cloth, £1. Is. 

" The inquiry into the origin and signifi- subject. In spite of its faults, it is ex- 
cation of the suits and their marks, and the ceedingly amusing ; and the most critfcal 
heraldic, theological, and political emblems reader cannot fail to be entertained by the 
pictured from time to time, in their changes, variety of curious outlying learning Mr. 
opens a new field of antiquarian interest; Chatto has somehow contrived to draw into 
and the perseverance with which Mr. Chatto the investigations."— A lias. 
has explored it leaves little to be gleaned "Indeed the entire production deserves 
by his successors. The plates with which our warmest approbation." — Lit. Gaz. 
the volume is enriched add considerably to " A perfect fund of antiquarian research, 
its value in this point of view. It is not to and most interesting even to persons who 
be denied that, take it altogether, it con- never play at cards." — Tait's Mag. 
tains more matter than has ever before "A curious, entertaining, and really 
been collected in one view upon the same learned book." — 'Rambler. 

HOLBEIN'S DANCE OF DEATH; with an Historical and Literary 

Introduction, by an Antiquary. Square post 8vo, with 53 engravings — being the most 

accurate copies ever executed of these Gems of Art — and a frontispiece of an ancient 

bedstead at Aix-la-Chapclle, vMh a Dance of Death carved on it, engraved by Fair holt. 

Cloth, 9s 

" The designs are executed with a spirit " Ces 53 planches des Schlotthauer sont 

and fidelity quite extraordinary. They are d'une exquise perfection.''* — Langlois, Essai 

indeed most truthful." — Athenaum. sur les Dances des Morts. 

THE BOOK OE COMMON PRAYER {present Version). Small 8vo, 

beautifully printed by Whittingham; every page ornamented with woodcut borders, 

designed by Hans Holbein and Albert Durer, copied from the celebrated Book of l'rayer 

called "Queen Elizabeth's." Antique cloth, 10s. 6d. — Plain morocco, flexible back, 

and gilt edges, 14s. — Antique morocco, bevelled boards, edges gilt and tooled, 163. 6d. 

Containing upwards of 700 pages. The designs represent scenes in Scripture 

History, the Virtues and Vices, Dance of Death with all conditions of persons, &c. 

&c, illustrated with appropriate mottoes. 

MEMOIRS OF PAINTIN&, with a Chronological History of the 
Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England since the French Revo- 
lution. By W. Buchanan. 2 vols. 8vo, boards, 7s. 6d. (original price £1. 6s.) 



14 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING BOOKS. 

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE of the COUNTY of 

ESSEX, from the Norman Era to the Sixteenth Century; with Plans, Elevations, 
Sections, Details, &c, from a Series of measured Drawings and Architectural and 
Chronological Descriptions. By James Hadiield, Architect. Imperial -Ato, bU plates, 
leather back, cloth sides, £1. lis. 6d. 

IIISTOIRE DE L' ARCHITECTURE SACREE du quatrierae au 
dixieme siecle dans les anciens dveches de Geneve, Lausanne et Sion. Far J. D. 
Blavignac, Architecte. One vol. 8vo (pp. 450), and 37 Plates, and a 4to Atlas of 82 
plates of Architecture, Sculpture, Frescoes, Reliquaries, fy-c. fyc. £2. 10». 

A very remarkable Book, and worth the notice of the Architect, the Archaeologist, 
and the Artist. 

—-£83- 

popular ^octrg, STalcs, arti Superstitions. 

— ♦ — 

THE NURSERY RHYMES of ENGLAND, collected chiefly from 
Oral Tradition. Edited by J.O. Ilalliwell. The Fifth Edition, enlarged, with nu- 
merous Designs, by JF.B. Scott, Director of the School of Design, Xewcustle-on-Tgne. 
12mo, cloth, gilt leaves, 4s. 6d. 

POPULAR RHYMES and NURSERY TALES, with Historical 
Elucidations. By J. 0. Ilalliwell. 12mo, cloth, 4s. 6d. 
This very interesting volume on the Tra- Rhymes, Places and Families, Superstition 
ditional Literature of England is divided Rhymes, Custom Rhymes, and Nursery 
into Nursery Antiquities, Fireside Nursery Songs ; a large number are here printed fur 
Stories, Game Rhymes, Alphabet Rhymes, the first time. It may be considered ■ 
Riddle Rhymes, Nature Songs, Proverb sequel to the preceding article. 

OLD SONGS and BALLADS.— A Little Book of Songs and Ballads, 
gathered from x\ncient Music Books, MS. and Printed, by E. F. Rinibau.lt, LL.D., 
F.S.A., &C., elegantly printed in post 8vo, pp.240, half morocco, 6s. 
" Dr. Rimbault has been at some pains used to delight the rustics of former 
to collect the words of the Songs which times." — Atlas. 

BALLAD ROMANCES. By R. H. Home, Esq., Author of " Orion," 
&c. 12mo (pp. 248), cloth, 3s. (original price 6s. Gd.) 
Containing the Noble Heart, a Bohemian "Pure fancy of the most abundant anil 

Legend; the Monk v» .Swineshead Abbey, picturesque description. Mr. Home should 
a ballad Chromes i>i clie Death of King write us more Fairy IV es; we know none 
John ; the Three knights of Camelott, a to equal him since the days of Drayton and 
Fairy Tale; the Ballad of Delora. or the Hemck."— Examiner. 
Passion of Andrew Oumo; Bedd Gelert, a "The opening poem in this volume is a 

Welsh Legend; Ben Capstan, n Ballad of fine one; it is entitled the 'Noble Heart,' 
the Night Watch; the Fife of the Wood- and not only in title but in treatment 
lands, a Child's Story. well imitates the style of Beaumont and 

Fletcher." — Athenaum. 

WILTSHIRE TALES, illustrative of the Manner?, Customs, and 

Dialect of that and adjoining Counties. By JohnYonge Akerman. 12 mo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 

""We will conclude with a simple but the stories as it is Interesting as a picture 

hearty recommendation of a little book of rustic manners." 

which is as humorous lor the drolleries of y Weekly Taper. 

MERRY TALES of the WISE MEN of GOTHAM. Edited by 

James Orchard Ilalliwell, Esq., F.S.A. Post Svo, Is. 

SAINT PATRICK'S PURGATORY.— An Essay on the Legends of 
Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, current during the Middle Ages. By Thomas Wright, 
M.A., F.SX &c. Post 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
" It must be observed that this is not a over, it embraces a singular chapter of lite- 
mere account of St. Patrick's Purgatory, rary history, omitted by Warton and all 
but a complete history of the legends and former writers with whom we are acquaint- 
superstitions relating to the subject, from edj and we think wc may add, that it forms 
the earliest times, rescued from old MSS. the best introduction to Dante that has yet 
as well as from old printed books. More- been published."— Literary Gazette. 



JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 15 



Bi&lt0grapfj|L 



H 



ANDBOOK to the LIBRARY oe the BRITISH MUSEUM ; 

containing a brief History of its Formation, and of the various Collections of which 

it is composed ; Descriptions of the Catalogues in present use ; Classed Lists of 

the Manuscripts, &c; and a variety of information indispensable for Literary Men; 

with some Account of the principal Public Libraries in London. By Richard Sims' 

of the Department of Manuscripts, Compiler of the "Index to the Heralds' 

Visitations." Small 8vo (pp. 438), with map and plan. Cloth, 5s. 

It will be found a very useful work to every literary person or public institution 

in all parts of the world. 

" A little handbook of the Library has book to the Library of the British Museum,' 

been published, which I think will be most which I sincerely hope may have the suc- 

useful to the Public." — Lord Seymour's cess which it deserves." — Letter from Thos. 

Reply in the House of Commons, July, 1854. Wright, Esq., F.S.A., Author of the 'Biogra- 

"I am much pleased with your book, and phia Britannica Literaria,' fy-c. 
find in it abundance of information which " Mr. Sims's ' Handbook to the Library 

I wanted." — Letter from Albert Way, Esq., of the British Museum ' is a very compre- 
F.S.A., Editor of the "Fromplorium Far- hensive and instructive volume. ". . . . 
vulorum," fy-c. I venture to predict for it a wide circula- 

"I take this opportunity of telling you tion." — Mr. Bolton Comey, in "Notes and 
how much I like your nice little ' Hand- Queries" No. 213. 

A MANUAL eor the GENEALOGIST, TOPOGRAPHER, AN- 
TIQUARY, and LEGAL PROFESSOR; consisting of a Guide to the various Public 
Records, Registers, Wills, Printed Books, &c. &c. By Richard Sims, of the British 
Museum, Compiler of the " Handbook to the Library of the British Museum," 
" Index to the Pedigrees in the Heralds' Visitations," &c. 

A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CATALOGUE oe ENGLISH WRITERS 

on ANGLLN G and ICHTHYOLOGY. By John Russell Smith. Post 8vo, sewed, Is. 6d. 

B1BLIOTHECA MADRIGALIANA— A Bibliographical Account of 

the Musical and Poetical Works published in England during the Sixteenth and 

Seventeenth Centuries, under the Titles of Madrigals, Ballets, Ayres, Canzonets &c. 

&c. By Edward F. Rimbault, LL.D., F.S A. 8vo, cloth, 5s. 

It records a class of books left unde- furnishes a most valuable Catalogue of 

scribed by Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin, and Lyrical Poetry of the age to which it refers. 

THE MANUSCRIPT RARITIES op the UNIVERSITY of 
CAMBRIDGE. By J. 0. Halliwell, F.R.S. 8vo, boards, 3s. (original price 10s. 6&.) 
A companion to Hartshorne's " Book Rarities " of the same University. 

SOME ACCOUNT of the POPULAR TRACTS, formerly in the 
Library of Captain Cox, of Coventry, a. d. 1575. By J. 0. Halliwell. 8vo (only 50 
printed), sewed, Is. 

CATALOGUE oe the CONTENTS oe the CODEX HOL- 
BROOKIANUS. (A Scientific MS.) By Dr. John Holbrook, Master of St. Peter's 
College, Cambridge, 1418-1431). By J. 0. Halliwell. 8vo, Is. 

ACCOUNT oe the VERNON MANUSCRIPT. A Volume of Early 
English Poetry, preserved in the Bodleian Library. By J. 0. Halliwell. 8vo (only 50 
printed), Is. 

BIBLIOTHECA CANTIANA.— A Bibliographical Account of what 

has been published on the History, Topography, Antiquities, Customs, and Family 
Genealogy of the County of Kent, with Biographical Notes. By John Russell Smith. 
In a handsome 8vo volume (pp.370), with tivo plates of facsimiles of Autographs of 
33 eminent Kentish Writers. 5s. (original price 14s.)— Lanje Faper, 10s. 6d. 

BIBLIOMANIA in the Middle Ages ; or, Sketches of Book-worms, 
Collectors, Bible Students, Scribes, and Illuminators, from the Anglo-Saxon and 
Tsonnan Periods; with Anecdotes, illustrating the History of the Monastic Libraries 
of Great Britain. By F. S. Merry weather. Square 12mo, cloth, 3s. 



16 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING BOOKS. 



JHisccllanics* 



SPRING-TIDE ; oh, THE ANGLER and HIS FRIENDS. By | 
John Yonge Akernian. 12mo, plates. Cloth, 3s. Gd. 

3 tribute to tfjc fHcmorg of fcSHilltam Carton. 

THE GAME of the CHESSE.— In small folio, in sheets, £1. 16s.; 

or, bound in calf, antique style, £2. 2s.; or, in morocco, vcxth silver clasps $r bosses, £3. vs. 

Frequently as we read of the Works of present age into somewhat greater intimacy 
Caxtonand the early English Printers, and with the Father of Lnulish Printers. 
of their Black Letter Books very few per- The Type has been CAREFULLY imi- 

sons have ever had the opportunity of see- taxed, and the cuts traced, from the copy in 
ing any of these productions, and forming a the British Museum. The Paper and \\ 'an r- 
proper estimate of the ingenuity and skill marks have also been made expressly, ;is 
uf those who first practised the " Noble Art near as possible, like the original ; and the 
of Printing." Book is accompanied by a few remarks of 

a practical nature, which have been sug- 

This reproduction of the first work print- gested during the progress of the fount, ami 
ed by Caxton at Westminster, containing the necessary study and comparison of 
23 woodcuts, is intended iu some measure Caxton's Works with those of his contcui- 
to supply this deficiency, and bring the poraries in Germany, by Mr. V. FlGGlNS. 

ANTIQUITIES OF SHROPSHIRE. By the Rev. R. W. Eyton, 
Rector of Ryton. Royal 8vo, with plates. Vols. I. & 11, £1 each. 

THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY ELUCIDATED. By the Rev. Dr. Job: 

Collingwood Bruce, Author of the " Roman Wall." 4to, a handsome volume, illustrate 
with 17 coloured plates, representing the entire Tapestry. Extra boards, £1. Is. 

TONSTALL (Cuthbert, Bishop of Durham) Sermon preached on Palm 
Sunday, 1539, before Henry V11L; reprinted verbatim from the rare Edition by 
Barthelet, in 1539. 12mo, Is. Cd. 

An exceedingly interesting Sermon, at the commencement of the Reformation; 
Strype, in his " Memorials,"" has made large extracts from it. 

ARCHERY. — The Science of Archery, showing its Affinity to Heraldry, 
and capabilities of Attainment. By A. P. Harrison. 8vo, sewed, Is. 

HISTORY or OREGON and CALIFORNIA and the other Terri- 
tories on the North-West Coast of America, accompanied by a Geographical View and 
Map, and a number of Proofs and Illustrations of the History. By" Robert Greenhow, 
Librarian of the Department of State of the United States. ThieR &vo. Large Map. 
Cloth, 6s. (pub. at lbs.) 

LITERARY COOKERY; with Reference to Matter attribute^ 
Coleridge and Shakespeare. Iu a Letter addressed to the "Athenaeum, 1 

Postscript containing some Remarks upon the refusal of that Journal it 
Svo, sewed, Is. 

FOUR POEMS feom "ZION'S FLOWERS;" or, Christian Poe. 
for Spiritual Edification. By Mr. Zacharie Boyd, Minister in Glasgow. Printed fr< 
his MS. in the Library of the EJnivertity of Glasgow; with Notes of his Life anu 
Writings, by Gab. Neil. Small 4to, portrait and facsimile. Cloth, 10s. 6d. 
The above forms a portion of the well- diligent perusal. Boyd was a contemporary 
known "Zachary Boyd's Bible." A great of Shakespeare, and* a great many phrases 
in i. iv of his words and phrases are curious in his " Bible " are the same as to be found 
and amusing, and tiie Book would repay a in the great southern Dramatist. 

VOYAGES, Relations, et Mernoires originaux pour servir a. l'Histoire 
de la DScouverte de PAmerique, publics pour la premiere fois en Prancais. Par 
II. Ternaux-Compans. 20 vols. Svo, both Series, and complete. Sewed, £3. 10s. 
A valuable collection of early Voyages translations of unpublished Spanish MSS. 

and Relations on South America; also principally relating to Old and New Mexico. 

TUCELR AND CO., PRINTERS. PKBBl'S PLACE, OXfORD STREET. 



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